All Mixed Up VR
by byakuyakchk36
Summary: Ranma and Genma are on the way back from China at the end of their training voyage. Just a few towns to hit on their way home. One of them is called Satan City now, strange name.
1. Chapter 1

**My Disclaimer: I do not own this story nor do I take credit for writing it. I posted it here, on , so people could read it. After seeing all the trouble that ****SSJ5-Gohan**** went through a felt it would be a shame not to put this up as well. To keep up with the mirror fic theme of the original I decided to post it myself instead of waiting for them. Once again b****ecause the author didn't complete this story, I'm willing to help write the last remaining chapters. But if somebody, if they would like, would maybe be willing to finish it, then that would be great too!**

**Author's Disclaimer: The usual stuff applies. (Characters not mine, no money, etc.)**

**Synopsis: ****Ranma and Genma are on the way back from China at the end of their training voyage. Just a few towns to hit on their way home. One of them is called Satan City now, strange name. There's a bank robbery going on, and a girl about to wade in to stop it. Well, Ranma can't allow that, even if the girl does claim to be the 2nd strongest martial artist in the world, and leaps in to stop the robbery himself. The girl is Videl Satan, and after seeing Ranma's skills for himself, she wants to learn how to do some of those tricks herself**

**All Mixed Up VR****By: ****James Thomas**

**Chapter One**

"Here's Ranma!"

The morning had just started out miserably. Saotome Genma and Ranma were still hiking their way across Japan, and today the morning started out with a rainfall, triggering their curses. The rain had let up, but their mood hadn't. They were more sparring in a direction than walking toward their goal. All any observer would have noticed was a little pigtailed redheaded girl fighting with a panda. Granted this wasn't a normal sight, but the fact that the girl had made it this far meant that she was probably in no danger.

After a while they finally came upon a city. Since rain had quit, they found a public bathhouse to change back to their normal forms. Ranma readjusted his clothes to where they fit properly again. "What are we doing in this town again?"

"We are actually just passing through." Genma replied. "We still have three more towns before we reach our next destination.

"So why are we going to this dojo anyways?"

"Trust me, boy. You'll thank me when we get there."

"Yeah, right. This isn't like one of your ancient training grounds, is it?"

"Nothing like that, but it will be your greatest adventure!"

"Why do I get a sudden headache when you say that?"

They stopped in front of a billboard with the town's name and population on it. Genma scratched his chin. "That's funny."

Ranma turned to him. "What?"

"I could have sworn this was Orange Star City when we came through here before."

"I wouldn't know. I was only five at the time."

"But why change the name to something as stupid as 'Satan City'?"

"I don't know. Why did those psycho Amazons name their kids after toiletries?"

"Good point."

They continued on until Genma's stomach growled audibly. "Ranma, I believe it is time for more training."

"Oh go steal your own food, old man! I'm tired of doing your dirty work! Why don't you just get a job?"

"Fine, I will get the food on my own, but don't expect me to share with an ungrateful boy!"

"Fine! Just don't expect me to beat up whoever you stole the food from!"

"You think that I'm not capable of taking care of myself?"

"No, I just think you always bite off more than you can chew! Don't forget that whole trip to CHINA!"

"You're still a little angry. I understand."

"I turn into a GIRL! OF COURSE I'M MAD!"

"So I maybe I made a bad choice by going to Josenkyo…"

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO SPEAK CHINESE!"

"What is your point, boy?"

"JUST GO AND STUFF YOUR FAT BELLY!" Ranma reared back and kicked Genma between two tall buildings across the street. A man on the corner held both of his hands straight up. "Baka panda."

Ranma stalked off and after a while his own stomach started to rumble. He stopped across the street from a bank and started checking through his pack. "No rations left. No wonder with my stupid food stealing pops around. Now what am I going to do?"

About that time shots rang out from the building across the street. Ranma checked the sign and saw that it was the 'Orange Star Bank'. _So maybe this was Orange Star City before. _He thought. _Looks like someone's trying to rob the place. Better make sure it's not pops…_

He crossed the street in a single leap and looked into the windows. He saw several men in ski masks holding guns forcing the tellers to empty their drawers. He saw that all of them were skinny, so he relaxed a little bit. _Still gotta help them, martial artist's duty and all. I'll just wait in the alley for them to make their exit._ He crept over and hid himself in the alleyway, waiting for the robbers to leave.

Sirens rang out and police cars pulled around and surrounded the building. They all unloaded and pointed their guns at the bank. "This is the police!" One of them shouted into a megaphone. "You are all under arrest! Come out with your hands up!"

Ranma was slightly relieved that, for once, it wasn't him or pops receiving the speech.

"Arrest this, copper!" The windows erupted as fully automatic gunfire started to come from the entrance. The police returned fire.

Ranma decided that he didn't want to get caught in a crossfire being the crooks and the cops. He withdrew further to the side. A crowd was starting to form; he decided to join them for the time being.

The firefight started to escalate and it was obvious that the cops were outgunned. Ranma just watched and waited for an opportunity for something he could do.

A movement to the side caught his attention. He turned and saw a girl in a long t-shirt that looked like a dress on her and shorts striding toward the fight. She had long black hair tied into twin ponytails off the sides of her head. He thought it was another spectator until she crossed the police line. "Oh no!" He vaulted over the crowd and landed in front of the girl. "Where do you think you're going?"

The girl just gave him an 'are you for real?' look and replied, "I'm stopping this robbery. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Looks like you're trying to get yourself killed! You can't go in there!"

She glared at him. "Do you know who I am?"

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "No idea."

"I'm Videl."

"Okay." Pause. "So what?"

"You mean you haven't heard of me?"

Ranma shook his head. "You just look like a foolish girl that's trying to get her head blown off."

She cracked her knuckles. "Listen, buster. I don't know who you think you are, but I'm one of the strongest martial artists in the city, and it's champion of justice. I can handle a couple of guys with guns!"

Ranma's mouth formed an O. "Really? You don't look that good."

Videl's whole body tensed with anger, and the ends of her ponytails puffed out like a cat that had been frightened. She shoved a finger in Ranma's face. "LISTEN BUDDY! I'M THE SECOND STRONGEST MARTIAL ARTIST IN THE WORLD, SECOND ONLY TO MY DAD. IF YOU THINK YOU'RE ANY BETTER, I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU STOP THIS ROBBERY!"

Ranma took an involuntary step back. "Hey, hey." He waved his hands in front of himself. "I'm just saying you don't have that manner about you."

She was still bristling.

Ranma thought for a sec. "Okay, I'll stop this robbery. Just so you don't get your head blown off." He turned around and started walking toward the bank.

Videl shook herself free of her tantrum and grabbed his arm. "Wait! You can't do that! YOU'LL get yourself killed!"

Ranma pulled her hand off his arm. "Just stay back. I'll take care of it, you'll see." He gave her his cocky half grin.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You'd stop the robbery if all it took was ego."

"Just sit back and watch."

The robbers chose that moment to burst out the front of the bank and head toward their waiting pickup. They all jumped out and rained down lead on the police. Ranma took two steps and jumped well over the street and the crooks. He landed behind two of them. With a couple of quick blows, they were dropped to the ground unconscious. He caught the next crook with a jump kick. The last one turned his gun at him. He rolled under the path of the bullet before the crook could fire his gun. Ranma stood up out of the roll, his nose inches from the crook's. "Y'know, you could hurt someone with that!" A punch to the stomach and the crook went down.

The crowd and the police cheered when the last of the crooks went down. Videl's jaw just fell to the concrete. SHE couldn't jump like that. SHE wasn't that fast. Who was this guy?

Ranma bowed and smiled his way away from the police and the press that started to gather around him. When they wouldn't let him go that easily, he vaulted up and over them, landing directly beside a still slack-jawed Videl. "See I told you!"

She finally picked her jaw up off the concrete. "How did you…?"

She was interrupted as a crowd of press started to bear down on them. Ranma took a quick look upwards. "We need to get out of here." He quickly scooped up Videl, cradling her in his arms, and jumped straight up to the top of the single story building right next to them. He jumped again and landed on a roof of a double. He made his way a few blocks away from the scene of the robbery before finally stopping in a park and setting Videl back on her feet.

She was, once again, awestruck. "How do you do that?"

Ranma just looked at her. "What?"

"How do you jump so high, and so often?"

Ranma gave her his cocky grin again. "Aerial combat is a specialty of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts."

She gave him a questioning glance. "The Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts? Never heard of it."

"Well, from what I understand, only three people practice the Anything Goes style, me, my dad, and my dad's old training buddy. My pops added a bunch of stuff do it and made our family's side a more aerial combat oriented. The ability to jump like that is just training and technique."

"Wow! Could you teach me?"

"I dunno. It's a family thing. Pops hasn't told me if I could train anyone else or not."

"Hey, you want to spar?"

"I don't fight girls."

She bristled a little bit. "Why not?"

"Well, I don't want to hurt you."

"I'm the…"

"The second best martial artist in the world." Ranma interrupted. "Yeah, you already told me, but it looks like you're the third best now. Maybe the forth, depending on how you match up with pops."

"I'd like to see you back that up."

"I told you I don't fight girls."

Videl threw a punch at his face, and he bent over backwards and avoided the hit.

"Not bad." She started to throw flurries of punches and kicks at Ranma. Ranma barely managed to avoid most of them. Finally she managed to land a glancing blow on him. _Definitely not bad. Maybe not all girls are weak. Let's see how she does when it's a real fight._ He started to parry her blows and strike her back.

Ranma landed a solid blow to her side and she jumped back away from him and landed in an offensive stance. Videl smiled. _He's good! I haven't had a challenge like this in years! Not since dad stopped sparring with me!_ "All right. Now that I have your attention!" She leapt forward and went for a leg sweep.

Ranma leapt over the sweep and twisted up and over Videl. He landed and swept her feet from under her. She rolled out of it and back up to her feet. Ranma smiled at her and jumped in with low feint that turned into a high punch. She caught the ruse at the last instant and turned what should have been a pretty good black eye into a glancing blow to the side of her head. She smiled back at him and rabbit punched him in the stomach. He rolled back and kicked her in the stomach in the process. She gave a quick 'oomph!' and then jumped after him, trying to stomp him into the ground. Ranma rolled up into a handstand and pushed off the ground and avoided her completely. He landed behind her and tried to get her into full nelson. She threw her head back in an attempt to head butt him. The blow missed, but it was enough to buy her time to get her defense back up and around on him.

The battle went on like that for while, punch-counter-kick-counter-jump-dodge. Videl proved to be every bit as strong as Ranma, but not as skilled in the martial arts. She knew a lot of Judo and Kempo, but did not have the broader range of techniques that Ranma had built up over his ten-year training journey. She also could not match him when he took the battle to the air.

He ended the fight by kicking her out of mid-air toward a tree. He caught her at the last instant and they both fell slumped down at the base of the tree, exhausted, but still smiling.

Ranma turned his head and watched Videl breath heavily. He smiled his trademark cocky grin at her. "I win."

She smiled back at him. "Just barely. I almost had you a couple of times."

"No, you didn't." He chuckled.

"Then what's this?" She poked at a tear in his shirt on his side that opened up to a red spot on his ribs.

"That was just a lucky shot. What about you?" He touched a large bruise on the side of her neck.

"Ouch! That hurts!"

Ranma dropped his smile. "Sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. That's why I don't fight girls."

Videl smiled at him. "It's okay, really! I haven't had that much fun in a LONG time! Thank you, Ranma."

"So your not mad about me hurting you?"

"Are you mad about me making you fight me?"

"Not really. It was kinda fun."

"Then I'm not mad either." She looked up and saw the sun setting in the west. She turned around and took stock of the pigtailed martial artist. _He is pretty handsome. I could get to like him._

Ranma looked at her, as her face seemed to become a shade of red from the setting sun. _She's kinda, well, cute, but she'll run away when she finds out about my curse._ "It's getting pretty late."

"So where are you staying?"

"I suppose I'll just find a place to throw up a tent and camp out."

"Why would you do that?"

"It's what I've been doing for the past ten years. I've been traveling all over creation training."

"Wow! So that's how you got so good!"

"So how did you get so good?"

Videl put her hands behind her head and leaned back against the tree. "I've been training for most of my life too. I'm trying to be as good as my dad."

"So how good is your dad?"

Videl looked at him with a 'you've got to be kidding me' look. "You really don't know, do you?"

Ranma double blinked at her. "Should I?"

"My dad is Mr Satan."

"So."

"So? What do you mean 'so'?"

"Is that supposed to be good?"

"My dad defeated Cell!"

"So?"

"Where have you been for the past five years?"

"I told you, on the training journey."

Videl's jaw hit the ground again. She picked it back up and thought the implications over in her head. _He's cute, he's a GREAT martial artist, and he has no idea who my dad is. Most of the guys I date just want me to get closer to my dad! I could actually have a normal boyfriend!_

Ranma just looked at her. "So who's Cell?"

Videl shook herself out of her thoughts. "Don't worry about it. Let's just go to my house. We've got plenty of room and you can just sleep there. No need to sleep outside. Especially since it's supposed to rain tonight."

Ranma cringed at the mention of rain. His stomach decided it was time to announce its existence again. "GROWL!"

Videl giggled at him as a sheepish look came over his face. "We can also get you something to eat."

"How much?"

"Free, of course."

"I mean how much food?"

"All you can eat."

"I'm not sure you could afford that."

She winked at him. "Want to bet?"

"Sure. What do you want to lose?"

"If you win, you get free room and board for as long as you stay in Satan City."

"And if I lose?"

"You have to stay long enough to train me to be as good as you. You still get room and board, you just have to train me for it."

"Deal!" He shook her hand. "We just need to swing back by the bank to get my pack."

"Okay."

After they had caught their breath, they walked back to bank and picked up Ranma's pack. He made a quick check to make sure everything was there. All was in order and they started on their way again. Everything was looking good until a crack of thunder echoed through the twilight. "Aw crap!" Ranma swore. _Oh well, she was probably going to find out anyway. I hope I can still get the free meal out of this._ The sky opened up and poured down on the pair.

Videl's jaw was starting to get bruised from all the impacts on the street.

Ranma-Chan's shoulders slumped over. She couldn't even bring herself to look at Videl. _Well there goes a potential friend._

Videl found her voice. "You…You…turned…"

"Into a girl, yes." Ranma finished for her.

"Are you…?"

"I'm really a guy. This is just a curse I got on my training journeys. Kami, this sucks."

"Can you change back?"

"Yeah, hot water."

"That's great!"

Ranma-Chan's head snapped up at a speed that threatened to give her whiplash. "Nani?"

Videl had a big smile on her face. "I thought I was going to have to sneak you into the house, but you've already got a perfect disguise! You just have to be a girl around my dad! He's real protective of me."

Ranma-Chan was still a little shell shocked from her reaction. "You mean you still want to got through with the bet?"

"You got it! This just makes everything so much easier!"

"You're not mad or weirded out or anything?"

"Of course I'm weirded out. I expect a full story eventually, but, for right now, the fact that you can change back is all I need to know."

Ranma-Chan smiled. _This could work out after all._ Something in her peripheral vision caught her attention. _There's something that could foul it up, though._ "Videl, can you wait here for just a sec?"

"Sure, why?"

"I just need to take care of somebo-, uh, something right quick."

"Okay?" She gave him a confused glance.

Ranma-Chan made a quick glance. "Why don't you wait over here, where it's dry?" She dragged Videl over to an indented store entrance, where she couldn't see much except for what was straight across the street. "I'll be right back."

Ranma-Chan rushed away and found what had caught her attention: A panda with a handkerchief tied around his head under his nose trying to steal food from a vendor's cart. "A piece of advice for you old man."

The panda turned around and held up a sign that said, "I'm just an ordinary hungry panda."

Ranma-Chan smiled again. "Stay away from me for a while!" She gave Panda-Genma an uppercut so powerful that it sent him flying over the city and into Low Earth Ordit. "All right, now that he's gone, I can get a decent meal without him ruining it!" She walked back over to where Videl was waiting.

"What did you do?"

"Oh nothing important. Just had to throw away some trash. Shall we go?"

"How about we fly?"

Ranma-Chan chuckled at her. "Sorry. Don't know that technique."

Videl rolled her eyes. "I mean with a copter."

Ranma-Chan started to laugh. "You going to pull one out of your pocket?"

"Yes."

Ranma-Chan stopped laughing when she saw the amused look that Videl was giving her. "Okay, show me."

Videl pulled out a small capsule and depressed a button on the top and chunked it into the street. With a small boom and puff of smoke, a jet copter appeared in the street. "Pretty cool, huh?"

It was Ranma-Chan's turn to drop her jaw.

Videl opened the hatch. "Come on in, it's wet out here!" She gave Ranma-Chan a cute grin and wink.

Ranma-Chan dumbly climbed in the passenger seat of the jet copter. "You know how to fly this thing?"

Videl nodded her head. "Sure. Been flying it for a while now. Just enjoy the ride. We'll be at my house soon." She turned up the throttle on the vertical jets, and the craft hovered straight up. She hit the ignition on the horizontal thrust and the craft lurched forward toward the other side of town.

Ranma-Chan just stared dumbly as the scenery flew by. She saw the huge mansion that was coming up and noticed that the ship was slowing down. "That's you're place?"

"Yes." 

Ranma saw the big sign on the roof that read 'Mr. Satan', and finally made the connection: Mr. Satan/Satan City. "You're rich aren't you?

"Yes."

"I'm going to lose the bet, aren't I?"

"Yes."

The copter set down on a helipad and the passengers got out. Videl pressed a button on the side and it returned to capsule form. Ranma-Chan stared in amazement. "What is that thing?"

Videl absently threw the capsule up in the air repeatedly. "It's called a 'Capsule Copter'. The Capsule Corp made it. They specialized in making things really compact. They used to be everywhere, but now there's only a few things left. The things that are left are pretty rare. I'm lucky to have this one."

"So did the place go out of business?"

"No, it just came under new management. They mainly market normal products now. They really only keep their offices open to keep their people from being unemployed."

"Okay. So…uh…where's the food?" Ranma-Chan's stomach growled to punctuate the question.

Videl giggled again. "Right this way." She led Ranma-Chan into and through the house. "You ready to lose?"

"Are you?" Ranma-Chan grinned back. _How rich could she be?_

They arrived in the dining room and Videl gestured to one of the chairs. "Have a seat. I'll have the cook bring some stuff out. Any preferences?"

"Not breathing, and not poisonous."

Videl turned and smiled warmly at the pigtailed redhead. "I'm serious! You can have almost anything you want."

"Surprise me."

Videl winked at him. "Okay!" She disappeared into the kitchen.

After a little bit, Videl came walking back in with her hands behind her back with a big smile on her face.

Ranma-Chan looked up at her. "So where's the food?"

Videl smile got a little bit wider as the double doors of the kitchen opened up and several servants with serving trays came out. They filled the table Ranma-Chan was sitting at with all kinds of dishes. The smell of food assaulted the room. Ranma-Chan was drooling.

Videl chuckled at the expression. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Ranma-Chan blinked herself back to reality. "Okay! Prepare to lose!" She pulled two pairs of chopsticks out of nowhere and began to assault the feast with both hands at speeds no human should be able to eat.

Videl was shocked, to say the least. "Hey! Aren't you going to taste it?"

Ranma-Chan stopped in mid chew. "Mrhat? *chew* Sumpfin mrong?"

Videl shook her head in disgust. "Swallow first!"

Ranma-Chan swallowed the lump of food in her mouth. "What? Something wrong?"

"Yeah! You can't enjoy food when you're shoveling it down that fast."

"Sorry. Never really had the option before."

Videl gave him a questioning glance. "Why not?"

"My pops and I used to fight over our meals all the time. 'Training' he called it. If I was slow, then pops would steal the food right off my plate. I had to learn how to eat like this to survive. I never learned how to eat any other way."

Videl crossed her arms. "You also never learned any manners."

Ranma-Chan shrugged and started eating again. She turned and saw Videl glaring at her. She gulped down the bite that was in her mouth, and tried her best to slow down. To her surprise, the food tasted even better if you held it in your mouth a little bit!

Ranma-Chan finished off the first table full, and smiled her cocky grin. "S'at all you got?"

Videl gave him a sly lopsided grin. "Oh, I may have underestimated you, Saotome, but I am still prepared. COOK! SECONDS PLEASE!"

Once again the doors opened and another round of food was brought out. The table was filled once again. Ranma-Chan took a deep breath. _So she's got a lot of money. I may lose, but I'll sure put a dent in her bank account! Of course, I won't need to eat again for…oh…twenty-four hours…_

Upstairs, in his private study, Mr. Satan was watching some footage of him winning the Tenkaichi Budokai. He loved to watch himself best the other opponents over and over again. After a little while he glanced at the clock. _Time for the news! I love to hear my name when they say it. I wonder what Videl's been up to?_ He stopped the tape in the VCR and clicked the channels over to the news station.

The news reporter was just in the middle of their report. "Yes, this new boy came out of nowhere with amazing abilities and stopped the bank robbers in their tracks."

"Must be one of my students." Mr. Satan smiled a knowing grin.

"Here's the footage we have." The scene switched over to the bank earlier in the day. It started with the crooks coming out and opening fire. Then a streak of red and black came down behind the criminals and materialized into a young boy with black hair done up in a pigtail in back wearing a red Chinese shirt and black pants. Mr. Satan watched as Ranma made short work of the crooks. They camera finally got a closeup of Ranma on the screen.

Mr. Satan scratched his chin. "Not one of mine, but he's got some ability. I may ask him to train here." Mr. Satan reached for his wineglass and took a good swig.

The reporter continued on with his story. "And here's the most shocking part of this report! He's apparently a love interest of Videl Satan, the champion of justice for Satan City."

Mr. Satan spit out the entire drink he had just taken from the glass. "WHAT?"

The reporter continued, although now the screen had a reddish hue to it. "Here is the footage of the boy sweeping our town's sweetheart in his arms." They showed a clip of Ranma scooping Videl up in his arms, without protest, and jumping up and out of sight.

To say the Mr. Satan was furious would have been a gross understatement. He slammed the remote down to the floor, turning the TV off. "I'LL NEVER LET HIM BE A STUDENT AT THIS HALL! I'LL KILL HIM FOR TOUCHING MY DAUGTHER!"

Down in the dining room between bites, Ranma-Chan sneezed. She rubbed her nose. _Must have gotten a cold._

Mr. Satan stormed out of his room and caught the first servant he saw by the front of his uniform and picked him up off his feet. "WHERE'S VIDEL!"

The servant showed amazing professionalism. _Someone's trying to date Videl again._ He kept his voice even, and a little bit condescending at the same time. "She's down in the dining room, entertaining a guest." He said it in a tone that reeked of 'you should know that'.

Mr. Satan threw the servant to the side. "I'LL SHOW THAT NO GOOD PERVERT THAT WHEN HE MESSES WITH THE WATER BUFFALO, HE GETS THE HORNS!" He stormed off toward the dining room.

The servant stood back up and straightened out his clothes. _This suit will have to be ironed now. Oh well, at least he pays well._

Videl had decided to join Ranma-Chan at the table they were working on Ranma-Chan's forth helping, when the doors to the rooms slammed open.

"VIDEL! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF BRINGING SOME BOY…" He stopped when he saw the two girls dining at the table.

Both the girls at the table looked at Mr. Satan and blinked.

Mr. Satan started frantically scouring the room. "I know you have him hidden here somewhere!"

Ranma-Chan just stared as Videl's father started scouring the room. _He looks like a professional wrestler._

Videl saw that Ranma-Chan had stopped eating. "Don't worry about him. Keep eating, just ignore him."

Ranma-Chan shrugged and started eating where she had left off.

Mr. Satan was finally convinced that no one was there (after giving the room the thrice-over). He stormed up to Videl. "I know you've got a boy hidden around here somewhere! Where is he?"

Videl smiled at her daddy. "Daddy, I'd like you to meet Ranma." She gestured toward Ranma-Chan, who almost choked on her food.

Mr. Satan stared at the redhead. "Uh, nice to meet you." He turned his head back to Videl. "What is the meaning of this? I saw the news clips! I saw you go off with that boy! I told you that you couldn't date anyone unless they beat me first!"

Ranma-Chan eyed the Tenkaichi Budokai champion. _Wouldn't be too hard. He's about at my dad's class…WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING! I CAN'T DO THAT! I'VE GOT TO FIND A CURE FIRST._

Videl grinned at her father. "Don't worry daddy. We're not dating." _Yet._

"Okay, just make sure it stays that way!" He walked out, confident that he had got his point across.

_Too easy._ Videl thought.

"What was that about?"

"Oh, that's just daddy. He always says that a guy has to beat him to date me, but there's not much chance of that." She slumped her shoulders.

"Oh, I don't know…" Ranma-Chan stared off in space and continued eating.

Videl grinned at the redhead. "You look like your slowing down there, Ranma."

Ranma-Chan cocked an eye at her. "You're still going to lose."

"I don't think so. You're already slowing down."

Ranma-Chan dug in with gusto, manners be damned.

Ranma-Chan tried her best to win the bet, but she collapsed from overfeeding. All things considered, she couldn't have been happier to lose a bet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"School Daze"

Ranma-Chan awoke the next morning to a strange ceiling. Of course the fact that there was a ceiling at all was strange. As cognizance set in, she remembered what had happened yesterday. She looked down at herself. _Yup, I'm wearing the same girly pajamas. _She thought. _At least I talked Videl out of sleeping in her room and having a slumber party. 'We have to keep up appearances', she says._ She shook her head to clear out the cobwebs. She glanced up and over and saw the clock by the bed. (She had slept in the floor when she found the bed to be too soft.) It was around five-thirty in the morning. _As good a time as any to start training._

She stood up, stretched out, and then changed into her white gi. She stepped out into the hall and walked across the way to Videl's room. She knocked a couple times.

"Wha? Who's 'ser?" Came a groggy voice from the other side.

"It's Ranma! It's time to start your training!" She beat on the door a couple more times for emphasis.

"Can't it wait for a couple hours?"

"Nope! We gotta start early!" Ranma-Chan put a dash of amusement in her voice.

Videl muttered a few profanities about morning people, what should be done with them, and where. She finally relented and staggered out of bed. After changing, she stepped out into the hall.

Ranma-Chan and Videl stared at each other for a second, and then looked down at what they were wearing. They were wearing identical outfits.

Videl lifted an eyebrow. "Nice outfit."

"Hey, you didn't think I only wore red and black, did you?"

"No, you just seemed the type."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Videl waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing. The dojo's this way." She started to amble down the hallway.

Ranma-Chan cocked her head to the side. "Aren't we going to practice outside?"

Videl turned around. "Are you kidding? I want to train on some mats."

The pigtailed martial artist shrugged. "Whatever."

They made their way into the dojo. Ranma-Chan took a look around. "Looks more like a private gym than a dojo." Sure enough, there were weights, exercise bikes, and miscellaneous training equipment scattered around a central square mat that looked roughly twice the size of a normal training hall.

Videl just shrugged and walked out onto the mat and started stretching out. Ranma-Chan joined her. After a little while of stretching, Ranma-Chan finally spoke up. "So are you ready to work, or what?"

Videl popped her neck and dropped into a stance. "First I want to check something." She launched at Ranma with a punch aimed at the redhead's face.

Ranma-Chan just leaned back and watched Videl fly over her head and land on the other side. She promptly righted herself. Videl came from behind with a leg sweep. Ranma-Chan jumped up and over Videl, landing behind her back. The fight went back and forth for a while until Ranma-Chan got bored and started fighting back.

Videl failed to realize three important facts: One, she still hadn't woken up all the way. Two, Ranma was much faster as a girl. Three, Ranma was fresh and fully energized. Ranma-Chan wiped the floor with Videl to say the least. Ranma-Chan flicked her pigtail over her shoulder. "You convinced?"

Videl pulled her ponytails out of her face, and nodded.

"Okay, then let's start training. First off, you need to stop relying on brute strength so much. Second, you need to learn how to move better. Not necessarily faster, but better. Your movements need to flow more, less jerky."

Videl straightened up. "I noticed you were having some balance problems." She stuck her tongue out at him.

Ranma-Chan bristled. She looked down at her chest. "It's these damn things! It's like having two extra weights strapped to my chest! I've only been a girl for a month, and I'm still getting used to it."

Videl laughed at the redhead. "That's why we wear bras!"

"I'm a GUY!"

"You could still wear one around the house…"

"I'M NOT WEARING A BRA! I'M A GUY!" Ranma-Chan was turning red.

Videl out a finger up to her mouth and shushed her. "Quiet! You'll wake my dad!"

"But I'm a guy!" Ranma-Chan hissed.

Videl threw her hands up in surrender. "Okay! I was only kidding! Come on, we need to get dressed if we're going to make it to school on time."

Ranma-Chan raised an eyebrow at her. "School? Why am I going to school?"

"You have to go to school so you'll be prepared for the rest of your life."

"But I'm going to be a martial artist the rest of my life. I don't need to go to school for that."

Videl rolled her eyes. "Well, what will you do if you're hurt in a fight or something and you can't fight anymore? How are you going to live after that? With an education you could still have a job."

"But I haven't been in school in forever! I'll be too far behind!"

Videl walked over and slapped the pigtailed girl on the back. "Don't worry so much. I'll help you. It'll be fun!"

Ranma-Chan looked at her warily. "I'm not so sure…"

"Look, there was supposed to be a new kid today anyway. He didn't show up for registration, so you'll just take his place. Don't worry so much. It'll be fun!" She paused. "One more thing…"

"Yeah?"

"Are you going to go as a girl, or guy?"

"I'M A…"

Videl clapped her hands over Ranma-Chan's mouth. "A guy. I know. Just be quieter about it. Okay?" Ranma-Chan nodded. "Good. Now let's get showered and I'll meet you at the front door."

They broke and went for separate bathrooms (with 50 rooms in the house, there were plenty baths to go around.) On her way out, Videl made a side trip to the kitchen. "Hey cook!"

The pudgy man with the doughboy hat looked up. "Yes, Miss Videl?"

"Can you get me a thermos of hot water?"

"Sure, do you want tea or soup?"

"Just hot water."

"What do you need hot water for?"

Videl just smiled and winked at him. "I'm going to do some magic."

The chef just chuckled and shook his head. He filled a thermos from the faucet and gave it to Videl. "I'd like to know what kind of trick uses hot water."

"Maybe you'll find out someday…" She left the sentence hanging mysteriously as she turned and left to find Ranma-Chan. She found her waiting by the front door. "Come on, Ranma. We need to go to the helipad to fly to school."

Ranma-Chan gave her a confused look. "Ain't we going ta walk?"

"It's 'AREN'T we going TO walk', and no. Why walk, when we can fly?"

Ranma-Chan scratched her head. "For exercise?"

Videl raised an eyebrow at her. "Wasn't this morning enough?"

Ranma-Chan just looked at her. "Nope. How about this, where's the school?"

Videl pointed in the general direction. "It's across town that way. It's the tall building with 'Orange Star High School' written on the front."

"Alright, you fly, I'll go by foot. We'll see who gets there first."

Videl shook her head. "You're nuts, you know that, don't you?"

Ranma gave her his trademark cocky grin. "Just watch." She started to run to the border of the compound.

"Wait!" Videl shouted.

Ranma-Chan stopped in mid-leap and turned her head around to her. "What?"

"You might want this!" She chunked the thermos of hot water at him.

Ranma-Chan caught it. "Thanks."

"Wait until you get outside the fence before you use it."

Ranma-Chan nodded her head. "Okay. See you at school." She hopped the compound wall and used the water.

Videl just shook her head and pulled out her capsulated jet copter. "He'll never get there in time for school." About that time a red streak made its way to the top of one of the far buildings and across the tops of others. "Then again…maybe I should hurry." She depressed the button on the capsule and chunked the capsule. She was in the cockpit and ready to take off before the smoke had cleared. She powered up and raced after Ranma.

Ranma was having the time of his life. It was a jungle of good sized buildings perfect for roof hopping. The feeling of flying through the air is what the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. He spotted the high school in the distance. _Too easy._

Videl pushed her engines to catch up with Ranma. She had lost precious time thinking that Ranma wouldn't have a chance, but yet again, the young man had surprised her. She came over a rise and saw him approaching the school grounds. _I won't make it! I still have to park this thing!_

Ranma was leaning against one of the school walls as Videl came running in after parking and recapping her copter. "What took you so long?"

Videl was breathing heavily. "Okay! *huff huff* No fair! *pant* You were flying too!"

Ranma grinned at her and shrugged his shoulders. "I never said I was going to stay on the ground." He kicked off the wall and walked past her. "So where's the classroom?"

Videl rolled her eyes at his arrogance. "You need to register first. Just go in and turn right, and you'll see the office. I'll see you in class."

While Ranma went to register, Videl hurried to her first class. She rushed up the side steps of the classroom that tiered the student's desk and stopped in front of a slim girl with short-cropped blonde hair. "Ireeza! You've got to trade me seats!"

"No way!" The blonde looked back at her. "Shyapuna will complain all through class!"

"Please!"

"Why should I?"

"Just do it, I'll owe you! Please!"

"What's so important?"

"Huh-Hmm" The teacher cleared his throat. "We have a new student today. Please introduce yourself."

The young man with the black pigtail and Chinese clothes stepped inside the classroom. "I'm Saotome Ranma. Pleased to meet you."

Ireeza's pupils became little hearts. "He's a hunk!"

Videl tried pushing the blonde over to the next seat, but she wouldn't budge. "Trade me seats!"

"NO WAY!" Ireeza dug her fingers into the tabletop.

"Is there something wrong Ireeza?" The teacher asked.

Ireeza put on her most brilliant smile. "I was just trying to make Videl take her seat so the new boy can sit on the end." She winked at Ranma.

Ranma gulped.

"Fine, Fine." The teacher shifted his gaze to Videl. "Please take your seat Videl, so we can begin class."

Videl glared at Ireeza as she took her seat between the blonde and a muscle bound boy with hair down to the middle of his back. Ranma walked up to the empty seat uneasily as he saw the look that Ireeza was giving him. He felt like a plate full of steak in a room full of starving martial artists. He took the seat next to her. "Uh, hi."

She leaned over the table on her elbows with her head on her hands. "Hi, my name's Ireeza. So what's a hunk like you doing in Satan City?"

Ranma nervously scratched the back of his head. "Uh, well…I'm sorta training with Videl."

Ireeza turned to Videl. "Why Videl, you little miser! Keeping something like this away from your best friend!"

Videl crossed her arms. "This is exactly the reason why."

Ireeza gave her a fake hurt look. "Why, Videl, is that a little ol' green-eyed monster I see, hmm?"

Videl rolled her eyes. "For your information, he's living with me. So there!"

"So have you done anything yet?"

The exchange just went downhill from there. It started to attract the attention of the whole class. The color drained from Ranma's face as he tried to sink as low in his chair as possible. _I wish there was a technique to let me disappear…_

Finally the boy with the long blonde hair snapped his fingers. "Hey! I remember you now!"

Ranma looked at him with a clueless expression. "Really? From where?"

He pointed at the pigtailed martial artist. "You were on the news last night! You're Videl's new love interest!"

Ranma's eyes went wild as the entire class's attention snapped to Ranma. He held out his hands in warding gestures. "It's nuthin' like that! We're just friends!"

"So you're free, huh?" Ireeza slid over next to him.

"Hey!" Videl shouted.

"That's enough!" The teacher shouted. "We're here to learn, not act out a bad soap opera." The teacher pulled out his teacher's text. "All of you take out your international history books and we'll continue where we left off on our discussion of Chinese history."

At the mention of China, Ranma's ears perked up. _Maybe he'll say something about Josenkyo._ The teacher droned on a while and discussed all the ancient tribes that had come and gone through the country. As the teacher started going into more recent history Ranma had a confused look on his face. "What about the Amazons?"

Ranma didn't say it very loud, but the teacher still popped his head up from his text and glanced at the boy. "What was that, Saotome?"

"Uh, I was just wondering when you were going to mention the Amazons."

"There is no such thing, Saotome. Now I suggest you don't occupy your time with boyhood fantasies and dreams."

"Sure, whatever." Ranma rolled his eyes. _ I wish it were only a bad dream…_

After class Videl caught up with Ranma. "What was that Amazon thing about?"

Ranma tensed up. "Nothing! Really!"

"Does it have something to do with your curse?"

"Uh, not really…forget I mentioned it." He quickly changed the subject. "So what are we going to do in gym? They got any good martial arts stuff?"

Videl grinned at him. "We're going to do something that I know that I'm better at than you."

Ranma raised an eyebrow at her. "What? Needlepoint?"

Videl gave him a cocky smirk. "Nope. The Great American Pastime."

"Sitting on our tails and watching TV?"

"No, stupid. Baseball!"

"What's baseball?"

"It's a sport. Haven't you ever played baseball?"

Ranma shook his head no. "Is it anything like Kung-Fu?"

Videl shook her head in frustration. "Didn't you play any sports?"

Ranma shook his head. "Nope. I was always training with my pops."

"Well you'll enjoy it. Just do as I tell you and you'll be fine."

They went out to the baseball field and Videl promptly went to the gym teacher and told him in no uncertain terms that Ranma was on HER team. They took the field and Ranma stood out in right field. "So what do I do out here?"

"Just use your glove to catch any balls that get hit in your area. I'll tell you where to throw it after that!"

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, easy enough. I don't see how this'll be fun though."

Shyapuna stepped up to the plate. "Prepare to get whiplash from another ball going over the fences, Videl."

Videl spat a sunflower seed shell aside the pitcher's mound. "Prepare to strike out. I'm going to throw you my guaranteed no hit fastball!"

"I'd get my receipt out, 'cause this one's going out!"

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Just throw the ball already!" He yelled.

Videl smiled and wound up for the pitch. She hauled off and threw the ball with all of her strength.

The muscle-bound blonde reared back and hit the ball square on the sweet spot and sent the ball sailing toward right field. He smiled an 'I-told-you-so' grin and started trotted toward first base.

Ranma saw the ball coming his way. He leapt up to try and intercept it. _I'm not going to make it!_ He took off his glove and threw it straight up. The glove hit the ball and shot the ball straight up. Ranma landed in a crouch and held his bare hand out. The ball fell into the hand without Ranma even looking up. "Saotome School of Anything Goes Baseball!" He brought his head up showing a huge Cheshire grin.

"Throw the ball!" Videl shouted.

"Where?"

"Third base?"

"Which one is third?"

"The one on the left side of the field!"

Luckily for both of them the runner on third base was too shocked to dive back for the bag. Ranma reared back and threw the ball at third baseman. The ball hit the third baseman's glove exactly in the center. The umpire on third base held up his right arm in a fist. "Like, third and out!"

Ranma trotted back into the dugout past a seething Shyapuna. "I'll get you for that Saotome!"

Ranma smirked. "Yeah, right."

One of the kids looked at the scorecard. "Ninth batter's up."

Videl turned to Ranma. "That's you wonder boy."

"That's Wonder Man to you." He took a bat up to the plate and held it like a katana.

The gym teacher looked at him. "Shouldn't you hold the bat closer to the end?"

Ranma blinked at him. "Should I?"

"Well, we'll just see how you do."

Shyapuna twisted the skin on the baseball. _I'll give him a fastball high and tight. _He thought. _We'll watch him duck like a sissy. That should take the mighty Ranma Saotome down a notch._ He wound up and threw the ball.

Ranma realize very quickly where the ball was headed. He swung the bat to block the ball and deflect the ball back to the thrower. Luke Skywalker would have been proud. The ball struck the longhaired blonde and knocked him off the mound. "That coulda hurt, you know!"

Shyapuna sat up. The baseball was embedded in his eye socket. As he came upright, the ball rolled out and down his chest. "I'll get you Saotome…" He hissed under his breath.

Ranma harrumphed. "Yeah, right."

The sky started to cloud up, and there was a sound of thunder in the distance.

Shyapuna was sporting a nice shiner when he walked over to where Ranma was standing. "I'm the captain of the boxing club. I'll show you!" He swung a haymaker at Ranma.

Ranma jumped over the punch with his finger extended. As he landed behind the blonde he felt a drop of rain. The sky cracked with thunder as rain started to come down.

Videl charged out and grabbed Ranma by the hand and hauled him away from the field. "Hurry up Ranma! You don't want to get wet!"

Ranma nodded and ran with her away from the field.

Shyapuna glared after him. "First he steals Videl from me. Then he embarrasses me on the playing field. Finally he runs away from a man-to-man fight!" The rain started coming down in earnest.

Ireeza walked up next to him, holding an umbrella. "Actually, he already won."

He turned to her. "What! That's ridiculous!"

She pulled out a compact and showed him the mirror. "Take a look at your forehead, mighty warrior."

Shyapuna traced the kanji on his head that was the symbol for buffoon. "That Saotome is soo dead!" He charged off after Ranma and Videl.

A very wet Videl and Ranma-Chan stopped under a tree. "He's lucky it started raining." Ranma-Chan took off her pants and started wringing them out.

"No kidding." Videl agreed. "He not really that great of a fighter. I can take him easily. He's just a boxer, not a martial artist."

"At least the little souvenir I left him will make him think twice before messing with me again."

Videl looked at him. "What souvenir?"

Ranma-Chan grinned. "You'll see."

"SAOTOME!"

Ranma-Chan's grin widened as she pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "I'll guess sooner than you thought.

Shyapuna grabbed Ranma-Chan's shoulder and spun her around. "Ranma!" He blinked twice when he got an eyeful of what he thought was Ranma. "Sorry, uh, my name's Shyapuna."

Ranma-Chan slapped his hand away. "That's enough grabbing."

The blonde looked sheepish. "You haven't seen a boy with the same hairstyle as you come through here?"

Videl pointed over the wall. "He went that way. You better hurry." Shyapuna looked up to see where she pointed. Videl saw the mark on his head, and fell over laughing.

"What?" He felt his head and remembered the kanji. "Saotome is DEAD!"

Ranma-Chan was starting to laugh as well. "Fat chance of that."

He turned to her. "Why do you say that?"

She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "He's VERY good, you don't stand a chance."

"How do you know that?"

"Well…uh…"

Videl jumped in to help Ranma out. "She's his sister."

Ranma-Chan picked up on it. "Yeah! Saotome…uh…"

"Pan."

Ranma-Chan turned back to Shyapuna. "Yeah. Saotome Pan."

Shyapuna dropped to a knee and grabbed her hand. "You must go out with me!"

Ranma-Chan reared back and punted the blonde away. "Get away you pervert!"

The form of Shyapuna flew away. Videl whistled. "Not bad. Good height and distance. I give it a ten. You do that often?"

"Usually I only reserve that for my pops, but he was cruisin' for a bruisin'." Ranma-Chan shifted mental gears. "Pan?"

Videl blushed a bit. "It was the only name I could come up with. You know, like Peter Pan?"

"Not really."

"And…"

"And?"

Videl blushed more. "Nothing." _It's just what I was going to name my first kid._

Ranma-Chan watched as Videl became a deeper color of red. _Strange._ "Well, whatever. Let's go back and get some dry clothes and some hot water."

"Sure."

Ranma-Chan glanced at her. "You're not worried about missing school?"

Videl shrugged. "Do it all the time. I AM the champion of justice for this city."

Ranma-Chan smirked. "I think this city might have two champion's on it's side."

"Why's that?"

"I'm going to help you. I can't have a half-trained student getting herself killed before she can be a decent fighter."

Videl bristled at the comment. "I AM a decent fighter!"

Ranma-Chan tried to ward her off. "Hey! I'm sorry!"

Videl smiled. "Don't worry about it. Let's go home."

Ranma-Chan smiled. _Home. Never really called any place that before, but I don't think I should start now. I still have a cure to find._

Shyapuna was walking home after school and he was trying to come up with a solution to his new Saotome dilemma. "I won't worry about chasing Videl anymore. Ranma can have her. His sister is a major hottie! I'll just take her! But first, I need to find a way to beat him, but I can't hope to take him. He's too good. I'll need help." He glanced up as he passed a billboard with Mr. Satan holding his hand up in a V. "That's it!"

Shyapuna ran to a pay phone. He dialed the number he had memorized while working up the nerve to ask Videl out for the first time (she refused of course). A servant answered. "Yes, Satan residence."

"I'd like to speak with Mr. Satan."

"Mr. Satan doesn't give out free interviews. You'll have to go through his press office and get an appointment and pay the fee."

"Tell him it's urgent!"

"Really…" The servant's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Tell him I have information about the boy that Videl has been seeing."

"I'll put him right on!"

There was a shuffling over the phone and after a short pause the voice was replaced by the gruff voice of Mr. Satan. "Hello? Who is this?"

"This is Shyapuna, one of Videl's classmates."

"What do you know about the boy?"

"I'll give you all the information you need. I just ask one thing in return."

"And what is that?"

"You have to train me to beat him!"

Mr. Satan started laughing. "I like your style, boy! If it'll take that boy out of the picture, then I'd be glad to train you. After I'm done, you'll be able to take out anybody on this earth! So who's the corpse?"

Shyapuna grinned a toothy grin. "His name is Saotome Ranma."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Enter: The Eternal Lost…Bacon?"

Ranma and Videl finished their morning rooftop jaunt. Ranma landed in front of the school's gates with an easy grace. He turned to check on Videl.

"LOOK OUT BELOOOW!"

Ranma's eyes widened when he saw that she wasn't handling her first rooftop romp well. They'd been practicing hard these past few days, and this was her first jaunt across the rooftops. She picked up things amazingly fast. She had a learning curve that almost matched Ranma's, but she still had a ways to go.

He jumped up and intercepted her before she could hit the pavement. He landed with her cradled in his arms. "You okay?"

Videl brushed a few stray hairs out of her face. "Yeah. I just got too tired to make that last jump. That's all."

"You should have told me you were having problems!"

She looked at him with a look of 'don't baby me!' "I can take care of myself, y'know!"

"You'll hurt yourself if your not careful! I'm only looking out for you!"

"Yeah, maybe I don't need anyone to look out for me!"

"Hey, look there's Videl and her new flame!" Flashbulbs started going off like mad.

Hibiki Ryoga had seen hell. We'll at least that's what he'd tell you if you had asked. He had been walking all over creation trying to find the one man he blamed for all of his problems: Saotome Ranma. He was going along fine in his path of vengeance, but he hit a slight snag, he didn't have clue one as to Ranma's whereabouts. He thought that Ranma was going to be at Furinkan High, but there wasn't anyone there but that insanely strong boy. He could go a while without fighting him again…

Ryoga reared back and roared his battle cry. "DAMN YOU SAOTOME!"

"LOOK OUT BELOOOW!"

Ryoga looked up out of instinct, but there was nothing there. He looked around until he saw the source of the yell, a girl with long pigtails falling from a two-story building. He was about to do something about it when somebody else leapt up and caught her. He relaxed a little until he recognized who her savior was.

Anger started to pulse through him. _Damn you, Saotome! First you ruin my life and now you're torturing poor innocent girls. Look at how she's arguing with him!_ On some subconscious level he noticed that her body language was saying she was quite comfortable where she was, but the logical side of Ryoga never comes out of his thick skull that often. _Wait a minute. I better make sure it's him this time. Don't want to attack the wrong guy again._

He stalked toward Ranma when the world around him went white from all the flashbulbs. When Ryoga could see again, Ranma was gone, but there was a trail of reporters to follow…

Ranma and Videl's eyes went wide as they realized that they weren't alone, and Ranma was still holding Videl. Ranma started running to the gates of the school, away from the cameras that were already flashing all around him. He rushed through the gates only to have his danger sense go off. He dodged to the side.

"RANMA PREPARE TO DIE!" Shyapuna came down and landed in front of them. "I'll show you who rules this school!"

Ranma looked at him with a 'you MUST be kidding me' look. "Okay. So what are you planning to do?"

Shyapuna rose to his full height. "I'm going to pound you right here and now."

"You and what two armies?"

"Ha! I've been training with Mr. Satan! I've got to be better than you by now!"

Ranma cocked his head. "And how long have you been training?"

"For three days now!"

Ranma shook his head. "Y'know, I've never been that good at math, but I'd say that ten years is more than a few days."

Shyapuna began to get furious. "I'll show you! PREPARE TO DIE SAOTOME RANMA!"

In the bushes beside them an observer lurked. _It IS him!_

Ranma just stuck his foot up and Shyapuna ran into it and knocked himself out. "What do you know, I might be able to pass math."

"Uh, Ranma."

Ranma looked down at Videl in his arms. "Yeah."

"You're still holding me and the reporters are going nuts about it."

He looked around and noted the reporters still flashing away. He was about to put Videl down, but his danger sense flared again.

"RANMA PREPARE TO DIE!"

_Again?_ Ranma thought.

A stranger embedded the tip of his umbrella into the pavement. The concrete cracked and then exploded into a small crater from the strength of the impact. The dust cleared to reveal a fanged boy in a tan shirt and black pants wearing a black and yellow striped bandanna. "I've found you, Saotome Ranma. So I see you're still good at running away."

"You know this guy?" Videl turned her head up to Ranma.

Ryoga breathed deeply. "I feel as though I've been waiting for this moment for thousands of years!"

Ranma just had a thoughtful expression on his face.

Videl waved her hand in front of his face. "Yo, Ranma! Can you at least put me down?"

Ranma looked down at her in surprise. He didn't realize that he was still holding her. "Uh, Sorry." He gently put her on her feet.

Videl brushed out her oversized t-shirt. "So, do you know this guy, or what?"

The new boy glared at Ranma. "Still feigning ignorance?"

Ranma was looking off into space, deep in thought.

Videl put her hands on her hips. "Do you know him, or not?"

Ranma put his head down and groaned like the thinking was giving him a migraine.

The new boy got a shocked look on his face. "You mean you really don't remember?"

Ranma shook his head. "Sorry."

"Then answer me this! Why didn't you come and fight me at the appointed time?"

Ranma snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! I remember! You and I were classmates in junior high! You were…uh…ah…"

The boy charged up into his face. "Hibiki Ryoga!"

Ranma leaned back. "Yeah! Something like that! Long time no see!" Ranma pat the boy on the back.

Ryoga swatted Ranma's hand away. "Just answer my question! Tell me! Why didn't you come to the fight?"

Ranma thought for a second. "But I was there. I waited at the agreed place for three days!"

Ryoga clenched his fist. "Yes! For three days, but by the time I arrived there on the fourth day you had already turned tale and ran!"

Videl was getting confused. "Three days for a duel? Arriving on the fourth?"

Ranma looked down and shook his head. "Ryoga, let me ask you a question. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the place we agreed on was the vacant lot behind your house. Why the heck did I have to wait for three days for you to show?"

"Don't patronize me! Do you think I was strolling around Japan for my health!"

"So, what were you doing?"

"I was looking everywhere for where they put that stupid lot! I had to search everywhere for it!"

Videl slapped her hand to her face and shook her head in it. "You were lost! You got lost trying to find your own back yard!" She started laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

"It's not funny!" Ryoga swung his umbrella at Ranma. "You went and broke a man to man promise and then ran to China with your father!"

Ranma raised an eyebrow and leaned out of the path of the swing. "How did you know that I went to China?"

"I followed you."

"No, really. How did you know?"

Ryoga's aura flared around him. "RANMA!" He opened his umbrella and threw it at Ranma, the canopy spinning at the pigtailed martial artist like a saw blade. Ranma stepped aside and allowed the umbrella to pass. Videl dropped to the ground to avoid certain dismemberment. The umbrella came to zenith of an upward path then fell back toward the crowds of reporters. They dived away for dear life, losing several cameras in the process.

Ranma casually dodged the returning umbrella, and snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! Now I remember what this was all about!" He ran past Ryoga. "Wait here! I'll be right back!"

Ranma came back a few seconds later with an armload of plastic wrapped packages. He tossed one at Ryoga.

Ryoga looked at the package. "Curry bread? What are you doing now?"

"Howz about we forgive and forget? What do you say?"

"You mock me!"

"Geez you're greedy." Ranma shuffled through the packages. "Here! Chow mien bread. Cut bread. Mellon sandwich. Meat bread. Seaweed bread…" Ranma trailed off and named each of the breads as he tossed them to Ryoga. Videl and the reporters were all very confused. Ryoga just got even madder. "Happy now? I didn't forget anything, did I?"

Ireeza walked up behind Videl. "Hey, Videl, what's up? Who's the rugged mountain man?"

Videl turned to look at her. "Hibiki Ryoga. Apparently one of Ranma's old rivals."

"Kinda cute, isn't he?"

"You think he's cute? Great! You can have him! I'll keep Ranma."

Ireeza narrowed her eyes. "It's not that easy, girlfriend. I've still got my eye on him too."

"What do you take me for Saotome Ranma?" Ryoga's yell brought their attention back to the front.

Videl walked over beside Ranma. "So what's this all about?"

Ranma sighed. "Me and Ryoga went to an all boys jr. high. Every lunch break was a battlefield. We had to fight each other just for our daily bread! Ryoga's just upset because I could always get the bread and he couldn't."

"It's all about bread? He chased you all over creation for bread? It can't be only about that? Can it?"

"I guess."

Ryoga, who had been stuffing his face with bread this whole time, leaned over to Ranma. "For your information, this is about more than bread!"

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Is it really?"

"Of course it is!" Ryoga stood (empty wrappers falling do the ground as he did) and grabbed his umbrella.

"So what is it now?"

"Don't play DUMB!" Ryoga stabbed at Ranma with the umbrella.

Ranma jumped out of the way and back rolled away from the fanged boy. "Tell me what's wrong!" He leapt up into the air.

Ryoga followed suit. "Because of you I've seen hell!"

"Just tell me what's going on!"

Ranma landed. Ryoga landed with his back turned to Ranma. "Ranma, where the hell are you?" He charged forward. "You can't run from me!" He kept going, rammed through a wall in the school and kept going out the back of the school and off to nowhere. A curious panda watched the strange boy leave.

Back at the school, Ranma and Videl were just standing amazed. Videl shook her head. "How can one guy be so dumb?"

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." The reporters recovered from their stupors and started taking pictures again. Ranma grabbed Videl by the hand and hauled her to class. He turned his head toward her. "Did I handle that wrong?"

Videl shrugged. "You tried to make it up to him, and he got mad over it. I think he's just being unreasonable. My dad's like that a lot."

"Okay, I just didn't know if I had done something wrong."

Videl smiled. "I'm not sure you could, Ranma."

Ranma turned his head to her. "What?" CLANG! Ranma slid down the steel support pole he had just run into. "Owww…"

Videl giggled. "Come on, Ranma. We're going to be late." She helped him to his feet and off to class.

After class they walked out and looked around the schoolyard. Videl hollered over to Ranma. "Find him?"

Ranma scanned the yard with his hand shading his eyes. "Nope. No sign at all."

Videl walked back to Ranma's side. "For someone so determined, he sure gives up easily."

"He didn't give up. He just got lost."

"How can someone get lost in the middle of a fight?"

"No idea, but we were both just saw it."

"You think we'll ever see him again?"

Ranma scratched his head. "Well, it took him five years to find me again the last time. I figure I'll see him again when I'm twenty-one. By then, I'll probably have forgotten him again."

"Oh well. Let's get back home and train some more!" Videl smiled at him.

Ranma chuckled. _A girl after my own heart…_ Ranma slapped himself. _Can't think like that! I gotta find a cure first!_

Videl eyed Ranma closely. "Are you okay?"

Ranma quickly composed himself. "Yeah, I'm great. Let's go!" With that he started bounding away on the rooftops. "Last one there's a rotten egg!"

Videl scowled in mock anger. "Oh, you!" She jumped up after him. She had to hit a few lower ledges to hit the same height that Ranma did, but she still managed to get level with him and follow him across town.

"So when was your father training Shyapuna?" Ranma yelled over his shoulder.

"Probably…after…school…at…the…down…town…dojo." Videl panted back.

"So why does he think he can possibly beat me after only three days of training?"

"No…idea."

"You okay back there?"

"Just…Fine." Videl came to a stop on top of one of the shorter buildings. She bent over and rested her hands on her knees, breathing heavily.

Ranma stopped and went back to her. "You sure you're not still tired from this morning?"

"Don't baby me! I can do this!" She said between gasps of breath.

Ranma shook his head. "Come on. We'll never make it back to your house at this rate." He scooped her up in his arms again. "Let's go."

She hit him on the chest, not too hard though. "I said, 'don't baby me'!"

Ranma was taken aback. "Hey! I'm not babyin' you. I'm just getting us back faster." He stopped any further argument by launching himself up and away from the rooftop.

Videl buried her face in his shoulder, a smile hidden from view. _Ranma…_

A couple of days later, Ranma and Videl were once more trying to get to school. Videl was continually getting better at Ranma's art, but still had a ways to go. The reporters had become a regular mob at the front gates. They were all waiting for a chance to get a picture of Ranma and Videl, and maybe a word or two.

Today Ranma decided they should take the back way in. They arrived at the back wall. Videl watched him vault to the top of the wall. "You sure this is a good idea?"

Ranma looked back down at her. "Sure! Why not? You don't wanna be mobbed by those reporters everyday, do you?"

"Not really."

"Then come on up."

She looked up at the top of the twenty-foot wall. _Well, here goes nothing._ She crouched down and then exploded upwards.

When she looked like she wasn't going to make it, Ranma reached down and took her hand and swung her up to the top of the wall. "See. Not so bad."

"How can you always jump like that?"

"Practice."

Videl rolled her eyes. She gazed over the yard and spied something. "Ranma, isn't that Ryoga?" She pointed him out.

Ranma looked where she was pointing. "I'll be. He's ahead of schedule."

Ryoga was standing in front of the school with his arms crossed, waiting impatiently. By the leaves and trash that had gathered around his feet, it was obvious that he had been waiting there for a while.

Ranma groaned. "The idiot probably found the school late last night and stayed here waiting there the whole time."

"Well, what are you going to do?"

Ranma shrugged. "See if I can figure out why he so mad, I guess." Ranma jumped down and walked up behind Ryoga and slapped him on the back. "Yo, Ryoga! How'ya been?"

"You dare mock me! Take this!" Click.

Ranma looked down at his wrist where Ryoga had just attached a handcuff. He lifted up his wrist and looked at Ryoga with a questioning look on his face. "What 'this'?"

"It's something to make sure you don't run away again, you coward!"

"I never ran away in the first place!"

"Stop lying, Ranma!"

"He's right, you idiot!" Videl shouted from the side.

Ryoga turned in her direction. "Who are you?"

"I'm Videl Satan, daughter of the great Mr. Satan."

"Not THE Mr. Satan."

"The one and only."

Ranma looked between them with a confused look on his face. "What are you getting so worked up about?"

Ryoga looked at Ranma like he was an alien. "Don't you know who she is?"

"Yeah, that's my friend Videl."

"DON'T YOU REALIZE WHO SHE IS?"

Ranma stuck his finger in his ear and wiggled it. "I heard you the first time! Geez, don't have to yell. I'm only three feet from you. Now take these damn things off so we can talk."

"The time for talk is over. PREPARE TO DIE SAOTOME!"

The cameras found them as Ryoga took his umbrella and stabbed at Ranma who swung around to avoid it. "Come on! At least tell me why you're ticked!"

"Because of you I've seen HELL!" Ryoga tried another swipe.

Ranma ducked under it. "You've already told me that! Why did I do?"

"You know what you did!" Ryoga slashed at Ranma.

Ranma rolled back and kicked the umbrella out of Ryoga's hand. "Will you put that umbrella down and tell me what's going on!"

The umbrella flew out of Ryoga's hand, opened, and twirled down to the ground, where it closed again. Videl walked over and tried to pick it up. "Man! This thing weighs a ton! Wait a sec, Ryoga was using this with one hand!" She turned back to the fight. "Ranma! Don't let him near you!"

"Kinda hard with these handcuffs!" Ranma shouted back as he dodged another punch from Ryoga. "Okay! Enough's Enough!" Ranma dropped to his back and pulled Ryoga on top of him, propping the fanged boy on the bottom of his feet. He pushed out with all his strength, sending Ryoga flying. The line between the handcuffs came taught and pulled Ranma along. Ranma planted both of his feet in Ryoga's face and planted him into the ground. "You done yet?" He asked the boy beneath his feet.

Ryoga stood back up. "Not even close!" He took a swing at Ranma with a haymaker punch.

Ranma jumped over Ryoga, landed, turned, and put Ryoga in a chicken wing lock and kicked his feet out from under him. Ryoga landed on his free arm. "Listen, I tried to be reasonable. Now don't make me have to start getting tough on you."

Ryoga growled from under Ranma. "You WILL take me SERIOUSLY!" He grunted as he lifted himself and the pigtailed martial artist off the ground with one hand. He pushed off sending them both flying off the grounds.

"They're leaving the yard! Let's go!" One of the reporters shouted. They all started piling out the front gates.

Videl just took a running leap over the wall where the two martial artists had gone before. She landed and surveyed the scene around her. She found the two fighting around a park.

Ranma dodged a kick. "Come on Ryoga! What's your problem?"

Ryoga threw another punch. "You whine just like a girl!"

Ranma's eyes narrowed. "You take that back." He said evenly.

"Just like a little girl!"

WHAM! Ranma landed firm punch to Ryoga's face, causing the boy to stagger back a step. "You take that BACK!" With the last word he pulled the cord between the two handcuffs apart.

"What?" Ryoga looked up bewildered.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Ranma launched into a flurry of punches and kicks. Ryoga retreated from the onslaught. There wasn't an opening anywhere. He looked over his shoulder and saw the water fountain. He stepped the other way to avoid it. Ranma landed right in the middle of it with a punch strong enough to shatter the basin. Ryoga lost sight of Ranma in the deluge that followed. An angry redhead jumped out of the water. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" She started another assault.

"Who are you?" Ryoga asked.

"SHUT UP AND FIGHT! Or did you turn chicken or somethin'?"

Ryoga stopped moving. "R-Ranma?"

Ranma-Chan stopped in mid-punch. "Yeah." She slumped her shoulders when she realized that she had transformed. "Go ahead and laugh. See if I care. I'm just trying to get by, and you try to kill me for something I probably didn't even do!"

Ryoga glared at Ranma-Chan. "Why would I laugh at a beautiful body like that?"

"Pervert."

"Not like that, you idiot! Because of you, I've seen hell!"

Ranma-Chan rolled her eyes. "You've already said that! Tell me what's the matter!"

Ryoga peeled off some bandannas. "I'll tell you what the problem is…You were BORN!" He started hurling the bandannas at Ranma-Chan. Ranma-Chan dodged them and watched as they cut up the pavement like razorblades.

"What's going on?" Videl reached the scene.

"LOOK OUT!" Ranma-Chan tackled Videl out of the way as several more bandanna's flew over them. Ranma-Chan picked her up and jumped up into a tree. "You okay?"

"Yeah. What was he throwing?"

"Bandannas."

"How can bandannas cut up the pavement like that?"

"Beats me."

Ryoga walked up to the base of the tree. "Ignore me will you!" He pulled off his belt and flicked it. It became like a sword in his hand. He swiped once at the tree and it started to fall.

Ranma-Chan scooped up Videl again and dropped to the ground, away from the falling tree. Videl jumped out of the redhead's arms when they reached the ground. "I told you NOT to baby me!"

"Hey! I'm just trying to save your life!"

"STOP IGNORING ME!" Ryoga swung at Ranma-Chan from behind.

"BUTT OUT!" Ranma-Chan kicked backwards and kicked the belt out of the lost boy's hand. It went soaring through the air. Ranma-Chan turned her attention back to Videl. "I was only trying to keep you safe! What's wrong with that?"

"I'm the second most powerful martial artist in the world! I don't need to treated like some fragile little flower!" She turned around dramatically to walk away from Ranma-Chan in a huff. But, right in mid-turn, the belt came down and sliced off one of her pigtails.

Ranma-Chan and Ryoga just watched in shock as the lock of hair settled to the ground.

Videl reached up and felt the loose hair. She had a dazed look on her face.

_I'm dead! I'm soo dead! _Ranma-Chan thought. _Just when we were getting along so good…_

Ryoga tried to get out the words, 'I'm sorry', but he just couldn't quite make it.

Time seemed to stand still.

"Oh well." Videl shrugged and started to walk away.

Ranma and Ryoga facefaulted.

Ranma-Chan got back to her feet. "Wait for me, Videl! I'm sorry!"

Ryoga got mad again. "We're not done yet!"

Ranma-Chan turned and punted him at the water fountain. She waited for a couple moments for him to come back. When she finally decided he wasn't coming back, she said, "Yes, it is." She hurried to catch up to Videl. "Videl, I'm sorry!"

Videl turned to her. "It's okay, really. It was Ryoga's fault. I was going to change my hairstyle anyway. Let's swing by the salon, and I'll get my hair fixed."

"You're really not mad at me?"

"No, not at all."

"Whew." Ranma-Chan wiped the sweat from her forehead.

A few hours and a haircut later…

Videl walked out from the Salon where a male again Ranma was reading through some obscure magazine. Videl's new hair was cut extremely short. It had a wild look about it that made her exotically beautiful. "What do you think?"

Ranma eyes went wide. "Not bad at all."

Videl ran her hand through her hair. "You don't think it makes me look too much like a tomboy, do you?"

"That's okay. I kinda like tomboys. I mean…uh…I didn't just say that out loud did I?" He scratched the back of his head.

Videl was virtually glowing. "Come on. Let's get home." She took a near paralyzed Ranma by the hand and walked him back home.

They stopped by a water fountain. Videl started the fountain and shoved Ranma's head into the water.

Ranma-Chan sputtered a bit. "What'dya do that for?"

"We're home, and I wanted you to wake up."

Ranma-Chan blushed a bit. "Sorry."

Videl laughed. "That's okay." They got to the front and the butler opened it for them. Videl was about to walk in when she sniffed the air.

Ranma-Chan looked at her. "What?"

"I smell…" She sniffed some more.

"You smell what?"

"Pig!" She looked around excitedly. She spotted a little black piglet in the bushes. "There!" She charged at it with a wild fury.

Ranma-Chan's jaw dropped to the ground.

"The young miss has a thing for bacon." The butler said guessing at the pigtailed girl's reaction.

Ranma-Chan watched as Videl charged after the pig with a fanatical look on her face. "Glad I'm not that pig."

"You and me both. Would you like a bath now, miss?"

Ranma-Chan nodded. "That would be great."

Some time later, Ranma relaxed back in the bath. His mind started wondering back to Videl and her haircut. How it framed her face so well. How it made her that much more cute…

"COME BACK HERE!"

Ranma sat up as the door to the bath flew open. The piglet charged in and jumped into the bath with Ranma. "Hey!" Ryoga's head popped out of the bath. "Wha'? Where the hell did you come from?"

Ryoga turned to Ranma with a frantic look on his face. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"How is this my fault?"

"I followed you and your father to China. I came to this place with a bunch of springs with bamboo poles sticking out of them. The redhead was chasing this panda around. The panda knocked me off balance and the redhead kicked me into the springs!"

"Hey! It's not my fault! It was that girl and…panda…oops."

"THERE! YOU SEE! It's all your fault! Now I'm about to be eaten, again!"

Ranma had a puzzled look on his face. "Again?"

"HERE PIGGY, PIGGY, PIGGY!"

Ryoga's eyes went wide as he jumped out the window.

Ranma's eyes were frozen open in surprise. _Well at least I know why he's mad. Oh well, It was time to get out of the bath anyways._ Ranma stood back up, just as Videl burst into the bathroom.

"Where's that pig?" She stopped when she saw Ranma's state of dress. "Oh…uh…um…I'll…uh…justbegoingnow." She bolted back out of the room.

Ranma was left to try and figure out what the hell had just happened.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"I Have A Fiancé!"

"So I met this really cute guy. He's so brave and strong, but I don't know how he feels about me."

"Growlf."

"I mean he is nice to me, and he's teaching me a lot of stuff, but he's not very open with his feelings."

"Growlf?"

"Yeah, I know I shouldn't be such a coward and just ask him, but it's hard sometimes. It's the guy's job to start things, isn't it?"

"Growlf!"

"Of course it is, but it could take him forever to start anything. Maybe I should try to take him on a date or something and just not tell him it's a date."

"Growlf?"

"Oh I wouldn't worry about him figuring it out. He's pretty oblivious to these kind of things." Videl stood up off the park bench and brushed out her outfit. "Well, thanks for listening. I let you get back to work."

Seated beside her was a very large panda. He had a sign next to his feet that read, 'Feed the hungry Panda…or just donate money.'

Videl looked off into the distance. "Look out, Ranma. Here I come!"

The panda's eyes went wide. He jumped off the bench and was standing in front of her before she even knew what had happened. He was holding a new sign that read, 'Ranma's all wrong for you!'

Videl's face was in a classic, 'what the?' expression. "How would you know?"

The sign turned. 'He's a terrible person! You should send him back on his way!'

Videl's face quickly shifted to anger. "What do you know? You're just a stupid panda!" She reared back, kicked the panda into the fountain in the middle of the park, and walked off in a huff.

A little while later, Ranma-Chan and Videl walked into an ice cream parlor. Videl seemed a little miffed. "Why did you have to change into a girl?"

Ranma-Chan rolled her eyes. "Are you kidding? A guy can't be seen eating ice cream!"

"My dad does it all the time."

"But he doesn't do it in public!"

Videl shook her head. "I guess you have a point there. I always have to get the ice cream for him."

"See!"

"I give up."

A few moments passed and Ranma-Chan was shoveling down the ice cream like there was no tomorrow. "Mmmm! This is good!" She flagged down the waiter and pointed to an extremely delicious looking sundae. "I'd like one of these next!"

Videl was still on the first bites of her first bowl. "You should slow down."

Ranma-Chan gave her a surprised look. "Why's that?"

Videl started ticking off reasons on her fingers. "One, it's not very lady like. Two, you could make yourself sick. Three, it's just plain rude!"

Ranma-Chan started ticking back. "One, I'm a guy. Two, I don't get sick. Three, who cares?"

Videl rolled her eyes. "Ranma! Right now you're a girl, and you REALLY need to learn some social graces! Didn't your mom teach you anything?"

Ranma-Chan's shoulder's slumped. "I never really knew my mom."

Videl's eyes became sympathetic. "I'm sorry. Did she pass away?"

The redhead shrugged. "I don't know. Pops never talked about her. I know I had to have had a mother to be here, but I never got to know her."

Videl's face took on a shade of sadness as well. "Maybe it's better. I did get to know my mother, it just made losing her that much more painful."

"What happened to your mother?"

"She died of cancer a few years ago. I miss her a lot."

Ranma-Chan reached over and put a hand on Videl's. "Hey, at least you got to know her, even if it did hurt more. I always have to wonder what my mother woulda been like and what she might have thought of me."

Videl smiled. "I imagine she'd be proud of you."

Ranma-Chan sat back in her chair and blinked. "Y'think so?"

"Absolutely! Who wouldn't be proud of the second strongest martial artist in the world?" She winked at the pigtailed girl.

Ranma-Chan laughed. "I have no idea why you're convinced that your dad is the most powerful in the world, but if you think that my mom would be proud, then I'm glad."

The two girls laughed a while as a third walked up. "What's up, Videl? Who's your friend?" Ireeza asked.

Videl looked up at the blonde. "This is R…uh, Pan. Pan, meet Ireeza."

Ranma-Chan waved in mid ice cream scoop and continued eating.

Ireeza regarded the redhead. _How does she stay so trim eating like that?_ "So where are you from, Pan? I don't remember seeing you at school."

Before Ranma-Chan could say anything, Videl answered. "She's one of my old friends from before we moved here."

Ireeza noticed the redhead's pigtail. "That pigtail looks just like Ranma's! Do you know Saotome Ranma?"

The redhead almost choked. "Yeah, uh, he's my brother."

A sly smile crept across the blonde's face. "Reeeaaally. So that's why you're here Videl. Trying to kiss up to Ranma's sister to try and get him for yourself."

Videl almost choked at that one. "It's not like that!" _I'm trying to kiss up to Ranma himself!_

"Right. Uh-huh. Then you won't mind if I join you then. Move over." Videl scooted over in the booth to let the blonde have the aisle seat. "So, Pan! Tell me all about that dream boat brother of yours." She gave the redhead a wide grin.

Ranma-Chan did choke on that one. "Cough, ack!" _Kami, I wish something would happen to get me out of this!_

CRASH! A section of the wall to the ice cream shop crashed down.

Ranma-Chan looked to the heavens. _Thank you!_

"Ranma, die!"

Ranma-Chan scowled at the heavens. _I hate you._

Standing there in the fresh hole in the wall stood a girl in a purple outfit with long lavender hair done up in odangos holding two bombari. She pointed one of the weapons at Ranma-Chan. "Die!" She charged forward.

Ranma-Chan leapt out of the way of the oncoming weapon. "Yo, Shampoo! Can't we just talk about this?"

"DIE!" She took another swing.

Ranma-Chan rolled under the blow and came up next to an empty table. She whipped the table cloth off the table and threw it over Shampoo's head.

Shampoo ripped the tablecloth off her head. "DIE!" She blinked twice when she saw that her prey was nowhere to be found. She turned to Videl. "Where she go?"

Videl was still a little shell-shocked. She dumbly pointed out the hole in the wall. "She went that way?"

"RANMA, I KILL!" Shampoo charged through the hole and out into the street.

Ireeza just stared wide-eyed. "Where did Pan go? And why was that girl calling her Ranma?"

Videl laughed nervously. "I'm sure it's a long story. I'll go try and find Pan and find out."

Ireeza narrowed her eyes. "Just as long as you tell me all about it."

"Heh, heh. Sure." Videl had a fake smile on her face.

"Yeah. Just make sure you don't forget to tell me about it." She walked out of the ice cream parlor.

Videl walked over and knocked on a freezer that had been knocked over when Shampoo made her entrance. "She's gone."

The door flew open to reveal a cramped Ranma-Chan. "Thank goodness."

"What? Aren't you going to thank Kami?"

"We're not speaking right now."

"So why was she after you?"

"It's a long story."

"Who's going to pay for all this mess?" The shopkeeper bawled. He turned to Ranma-Chan. "She a friend of yours? I demand you pay for the damage she did!"

Ranma-Chan grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him down to eye level. "She's NOT my friend, and I'm NOT paying for NOTHING! SHE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!"

Videl walked up to the shopkeeper. "Don't worry about it. I'll take care of the bill."

The shopkeeper realized who it was. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't realize it was you. Don't worry about it. I'm just honored to have you in my store."

As they were walking away Ranma-Chan turned to Videl. "So why does everybody act so nice around you?"

"Oh, you know. I know a lot of people. So how do you know that girl?" She quickly changed the subject.

Ranma-Chan explained about the Amazon village and the tournament that he accidentally ate the first prize for. So he challenged the champion to battle so the prize would be rightfully hers. She won no problem, but then the Amazon warrior administered the kiss of death, a vow that she would hunt Ranma-Chan down until she was dead. "So she's been chasing me all over China trying to kill me."

"Now she tracked you down to Japan. So why haven't you just taken her out?"

"And risk having the entire Amazon tribe coming down on me? I don't think so!"

"Good point. Well here." Videl tossed Ranma-Chan a thermos. "At least change back into a guy first."

"Okay." She upended the thermos and turned back into a he. "Yeah, well. I just need to get rid of her."

"Ranma, I kill!"

Ranma jumped back as a bombari lodged itself into the ground where he was standing. "Leave me alone!"

Shampoo looked at Ranma with a confused glance. She ran her hands over his chest. "Is man?"

"Yeah, I'm a guy." Ranma scratched the back of his head.

"What's going on Ranma?" Videl asked.

Shampoo looked at her. "Ranma? You call him Ranma?" She turned back to Ranma. "Where girl-type Ranma?"

Ranma pointed back the way they had come. "She went dat-a-way."

Shampoo scowled. "I no fall for that twice!" She turned to Videl. "Where girl-type Ranma? You with her last!"

"I don't know where she could be." Videl tried to look innocent.

Shampoo narrowed her eyes. "You is obstacle and obstacle is for killing! Hai-Ya!" Shampoo swiped at Videl. Videl dodged to the side.

Ranma puffed up. "Hey! Leave her alone!"

"RANMA!" Videl yelled at him.

"What?"

"Stop babying me! I can handle this!"

Ranma was flabbergasted for a second and then regained his composure. "But!"

"Butt, out! Just let me fight her!"

Ranma backed down. "Okay, but I'm coming in if you get yourself hurt."

Videl looked at him with a small smile. _He does care and he's starting to trust me!_ "Don't worry about me."

"Hey! Forget something?"

Videl turned to Shampoo as she made another lunge at her. Videl dodged and managed to get a blow in to Shampoo's gut. Shampoo shrugged it off and continued her assault.

As fight went on, Ranma was amazed. "Wow. Guess all that training I've been doing with her is really paying off. She's not bad. She might actually pull this off."

They fought each other to a standstill, neither one giving ground. Finally, Shampoo got careless and overextended herself on a thrust to Videl's midsection. Videl sidestepped, grabbed the bombari and pulled Shampoo down on her face. She delivered a stunning blow to the back of Shampoo's neck. "There! Now leave us alone!"

Ranma clapped from the sidelines. "I'm impressed. I'm sorry I doubted you."

Videl beamed at him. "It comes from having a good teacher."

They walked off as Shampoo was recovering. _I must give her the kiss of death!_ She slowly got to her feet and began to follow them.

As Ranma and Videl were arriving at the Satan mansion, Ranma stopped at the gates as Videl made her way to the front door. "Is daddy around?" She whispered the butler.

The butler gave her a conspiratory smile. "Not at all miss. Your friend may come in."

Videl waved and Ranma walked up toward the front door. Just as he was halfway through the yard, a shadow passed over him. He realized that it was Shampoo, and she was heading straight for Videl! Ranma saw the Amazon stretch out her hands to try and capture Videl with her hands. _She's going for the kiss of death!_ Ranma charged forward and kicked Shampoo out of mid-air and sent her reeling on the grass. She struck head first and was knocked unconscious. Videl gave Ranma a stern look. "What?" He responded. "You're still tired! Besides, she's my problem!"

Videl took a deep breath. "Okay. I'll let it slide this time."

Shampoo got back to her feet and shook her head clear. "Ranma?"

"Oh crap!" Ranma started stepping backwards.

Videl clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh no! Now she's going to be after his guy half!"

Ranma backed away a couple more steps as Shampoo followed him like a zombie. He waved his hands in front of himself. "Hey! You didn't lose! Honestly! It was an accident!"

Shampoo stalked up to him and then fell forward. Ranma rushed forward to catch her before she hit the ground. She put her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. "Wo ai ni."

"What?" Ranma tried to pull back from her, but she hauled him down and planted a large kiss on his lips.

"Gah!" Videl shouted. "Get your hands off my man!" She charged in and pulled the tired Amazon off of Ranma. "Leave him alone." Ranma just stood there dumbly.

Shampoo looked past Videl at Ranma. "Wu da airen!"

"What?"

"She said, 'my beloved husband' and 'the one I love' before that." The butler called out.

Videl looked at him. "I never knew you spoke Chinese."

"You never asked."

Shampoo made another attempt to come at Ranma but passed out from exhaustion.

Ranma scratched the back of his head. "Well. At least she stopped."

Videl shook her head. "I'm thoroughly confused now. Why did she say that stuff?" She came Ranma an accusing glare.

"Hey! I'm just as surprised as you!" Ranma tried to wave her off.

The butler cleared his throat. "Well, we'll never find out until she comes to. I'll take her inside and maybe once she wakes she'll be more liable to listen to reason." He picked her up and carried her inside the mansion.

Later, after Shampoo was up and around again, the butler showed her out to the back yard where Ranma and Videl were waiting with arms crossed. Ranma gave her a stern glare. "So what's this all about? Why you calling me your husband?"

Shampoo gave him a brilliant smile and pulled out a book labeled, 'Amazon Tribal Law'.

Videl grabbed it and flipped through it. "It's all in Chinese!"

Ranma grabbed it. "Maybe there's a Japanese side."

The butler shook his head and grabbed the book and began reading. "Well, it seems if an Amazon warrior is defeated by a woman from the outside, the warrior must give the kiss of death and kill her immediately. If the outsider is male, then she must marry him and join his blood into the tribe."

Ranma blinked. He smacked his forehead. "This is just GREAT!"

Shampoo sauntered over to him. "Airen come back to China with Shampoo, yes?"

Ranma backed away. "No way!"

She started to turn on her purple-red eyes on him, stunning mode. "Shampoo make good wife for you."

Ranma was starting to feel the effects of the eyes. "I…I…I can't marry you!"

Shampoo crossed her arms. "Why not?"

"Because…because…uh…because."

"He's already got a fiancé!" Videl shouted.

"Yeah! I've already got a fiancé!" His eyes went wide as he realized what he had just said.

The butler raised an eyebrow. _The young miss certainly moves fast…_

Videl walked up and put her arms around Ranma. "Just play along." She whispered into his ear.

Shampoo was aghast. "But…" Her eyes narrowed when she saw the lack of response in Ranma. "You not really fiancés."

Ranma's eyes widened in panic. "S…sure we are." He clumsily put his arms around Videl. Videl smiled despite herself.

Shampoo still wasn't convinced. "Prove it. Give kiss!"

"Kiss?" Ranma was really panicking now.

Videl looked at him from his arms, a hint of tears in her eyes. "It's okay, Ranma." She whispered to him. "If you don't like me, then just do it to get rid of her."

Ranma's shoulders slumped. "But…but I do…uh…like you."

Videl looked up at him, the tears turned to happiness. "Really?"

"Sure." He brought her face up. They shared a long passionate kiss.

Just then thousands of flashes surrounded them. Reporters were coming out of the woodwork, behind bushes and over the back walls. "What the?" Ranma shouted.

The butler had an irate look on his face. "I knew I should have let the dogs out!"

They were all swarming the couple. "Who are you?" "Is it true that you're getting married?" "Where are you from?" "Where did you two meet?" The reporters went on as Ranma and Videl took several steps back.

"Let's get outta here!" Ranma grabbed Videl and leapt over and away from the reporters.

Shampoo crossed her arms and sneered. "Is not over obstacle girl. Not by long shot."

In one of the bars in the center of town, Saotome Genma was downing another round of Sake. "Ungrateful boy! He should have shown himself by now! Who was that girl that knew him?"

"…and here's the scene of the young man's daring leap over the Satan mansion wall with his fiancé Videl in his arms…" The TV above the bar continued the story.

Genma looked up in time to see a boy with a pigtail leap over the wall in his school's distinctive style and the face of the girl that he had seen earlier in the park looking back at the camera. "Ranma! You shame your father! It is now up to your father to bring you back to your true obligations. You can't marry some girl when you're supposed to marry one of the daughters of Tendo!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"Who's number one?"

Ranma carried Videl several blocks away from her estate. He leapt up to the top of the tallest building in the area and set Videl back down on her feet. "You okay?"

"Peachy." She started looking at the ground, deep in thought.

"Okay." Ranma turned to leave her to her thoughts. He walked to the edge of the roof and stared out over the city. _Look at the view! Everything always looks better from above, more peaceful. I guess from a distance anything could look good. I can even see our high school from here. I wonder what Joe Average is doing today. I wonder what a normal teenager would be doing right now._ "Hey, Videl. Ever wonder…?" He paused when he saw Videl still staring at the ground. "What's wrong?" _Did I upset her with the kiss?_

Videl started turning circles in the roof with the toe of her right foot. "Ranma…uhm…do you like me?"

Ranma smiled at her. "Of course I like you. You're a good fighter and a great friend."

Videl cringed a bit at the mention of friend. "I mean: do you LIKE me?"

The pigtailed martial artist scratched his head. "Isn't that what I just told you?"

Videl looked up at him with a slight hurt look on her face. _He only thinks of me as a friend._ "No. I mean as…you know…"

"Know what?" Ranma was serious confused.

"As…as something other than a friend?" Videl looked up at him hopefully.

Ranma almost took a step back. All his instincts were telling him to bolt, but his mind was telling him to stay. "What do you mean?"

Videl shook her head. _Come on, girl. It's now or never, the moment of truth. You have to tell him outright. You can't keep beating around the bush, and you know why. He's told you the story often enough, raised only by a father that only had him think about martial arts. Anything about feelings you're going to have to spell out. _She steeled herself. "Ranma, do you like me like as a woman."

A faint bit of realization came to Ranma's mind. He thought he knew what this was about but he wasn't sure. "Uh…Yeah…I guess."

Videl's shoulders slumped over. "I should have realized you didn't like me. I'm sorry I forced myself on you back there." She started to turn around and walk toward the edge of the roof.

_She thinks she forced herself on me? _Ranma leapt forward and grabbed her arm. "Hey! I said I like you, don't that mean nothing to you?"

"It's, 'doesn't that mean anything to you', and yes, it does. You only like me as a friend and nothing else." Tears started to well up in her eyes.

Ranma put his free hand on her other shoulder. "I don't…uh…only think of you as a friend. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone along with the whole fiancé thing."

The corners of Videl's lips started to curl upwards. "I'm glad." _Money question now. Don't lose your nerve now girl._ "Do you love me?"

Ranma took an involuntary step back. "I…uh…don't…uh…really know…I mean…oh man." He slapped his hand to his brow.

"What?" Videl tried to look into his eyes.

"I've never been good with this type of stuff. I don't want to hurt you." He dropped his hand and started staring at his feet.

Videl smiled and brought her hand to his chin and pulled his head up to where she could see his eyes. "It's okay. I understand. From what you've told me about your dad he's always forbade you from feeling like this. I can tell he tried to drive all soft feelings out of you. It's not your fault. Also, just because you say you love me doesn't mean we'll run off and get married this instant. We've still got our whole lives ahead of us." _At least we don't have to get married until after high school…_

Ranma looked into her eyes and tried to sort out all these funny feelings he was having. She was an excellent student, a good friend, and a great person. Maybe he loved her, but what if he didn't? Only time would tell. _She's right. We've got our whole lives ahead of us._ He made a decision and thought long about how he was going to say it. Finally he came up with a way. "Videl, I…uh…I'm not sure if I l-love you, but can I stick around you until I find out if I do or not?"

Videl fought bravely to keep her emotions in check, but failed miserably as she jumped and put her arms around his neck and held him close. "As long as you want! As long as you want. Just one thing."

Ranma nervously eyed her. "What?"

"Can we still be fiancés?"

Ranma started sweating. "Uh…um…I don't know…"

Videl smiled at him. "At least as far as a purple haired Amazon is concerned?"

Ranma chuckled as the meaning set in. "Sure."

The next day at school they had to dodge twice the usual barrage of reporters to get to the gates. Ranma turned to Videl. "Why don't we ever just take the back way in?"

Videl shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe because we never thought of it before?"

Ranma snorted. "Wise guy." He walked a few more steps before being bowled over by Ireeza. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Say it isn't so!" The blonde pleaded.

"What do you mean?" Ranma tried to push the blonde off of him.

Ireeza got up and pulled a newspaper from her bag that showed Ranma and Videl locked in their kiss. "Are you two really getting married?"

Videl helped Ranma to his feet and got a mischievous smirk on her face. "You got it. We're getting married right after graduation. Right honey?" She put her arms around Ranma.

Ranma was starting to sweat profusely. "Y-yeah…s-sure."

Ireeza rolled her eyes. "You could have just told me it was a misprint." She deadpanned. "I'll see you guys in class." She turned and walked to the building.

Videl was laughing so hard she had to hold onto Ranma to keep from rolling on the ground. Ranma's eyes narrowed. "I thought we were just doing the fiancé act for Shampoo."

"I couldn't help myself." She said between laughs. "She's been stealing my boyfriends since we were little. This was the perfect revenge."

Ranma shook his head. "I doubt I'd date her. She makes me feel…"

Videl stopped laughing and looked into his eyes. "What? Repulsed? Nauseated?"

"Like a piece of meat."

Videl started laughing again.

"SAOTOME PREPARE TO DIE!"

Ranma didn't even have to turn around. He kicked directly behind him and caught a charging Shyapuna in the stomach, doubling him over. "Dude, just give it up. You'll never beat me."

The muscle-bound blonde man stood upright and brought his fist back to punch. "I'll show you!" He face collided with Ranma's fist.

Ranma still hadn't looked backward. He brought his hand back from over his shoulder. "We really don't have time for this. Come on, 'honey', we need to get to class before you die from laughter.

Videl put an arm over his shoulders and started walking with him to the front of the school. It looked like Ranma was carrying a wounded person the way Videl was doubled over in laughter. She only made it to class because Ranma practically carried her.

The day proceeded routinely until around lunchtime. Ranma and Videl sat down in the cafeteria and were preparing to open their bentos when a section of the wall to their right collapsed. Shampoo was dressed in a pink and purple Chinese dress that just barely covered the important parts, but still left little to the imagination. She strode forward and put a large bowl of freshly cooked beef ramen in front of Ranma. "Shampoo come bring airen too too delicious lunch! You eat now, yes?"

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Yo, Shampoo. Nice to see you again. Ever heard of doors?" All his words were dripping with sarcasm.

The Amazon smiled at him. "Shampoo come and show how good wife she make."

Videl latched onto Ranma's arm in an instant, her sweet and sour pork long forgotten. "He's my fiancé! How many time do we have to tell you that!"

Shampoo glared at the daughter of Mr. Satan. "You obstacle, and obstacles are for killing!" She reached out her hands, grabbed Videl's head, and brought her face toward Videl's.

Ranma slapped Shampoo's hands away. "None of that! No kiss of death while I'm around!"

Shampoo looked at Ranma with an imploring look. "But is way of Amazon womans! Airen will learn soon."

Videl stood up. "All right hussy! You, me, outside, NOW! We're going to settle this once and for all!"

Shampoo sneered at her. "Definitely. Shampoo no underestimate you again."

Videl and Shampoo marched out of the hole that Shampoo had made her entrance through. Ranma looked down at his still half full bento. "Damn." He shoveled the rest down at light speed and ran after them.

Ranma rounded a corner and found Videl face down on the lawn. He ran to her side, turned her over, and brought her to a sitting position. "Videl? VIDEL?"

She blinked her eyes and slowly came around. She looked Ranma in the eyes and blinked. "Who are you?"

Ranma's eyes grew several sizes. "Don't you remember me? I'm Ranma."

She tilted her head and tried to think. _I'm sure I'd remember such a cute boy. By the feel of his muscles he has to be athletic._ "Are you a martial artist?"

Ranma smacked himself on the head. "You've got…what'cha ma call it…amnesia! Do remember anything about your fight with Shampoo?"

She thought a second. "I followed her out into the courtyard, and then nothing." She got up and ran her fingers through her short hair. "I must have been knocked out, but I feel amazingly refreshed." She started to walk away.

Ranma caught up to her. "Hey! We need to get you some help!"

Videl turned to him. "Hello. What's your name?"

Ranma slapped his forehead. "I'm Ranma! The guy who's training you and living at your house!"

Videl shook her head. "Daddy trains me, and he'd never let me bring a boy home. He's terribly protective of me. He'd have a heart attack if he found you at home. That is, after he killed you he'd have a heart attack."

Ranma's pigtail stood straight up as he started to tense up in frustration. "Listen! I'm Ranma! Remember, the guy who stopped the robbery?"

Videl rubbed her chin in thought. _Now where have I seen him before? _She snapped her fingers. "I know! You're from Italy!"

"That's Roman!"

She thought for a little bit more. "You're that noodle dish!"

Ranma smacked himself on the forehead again. "That's Ramen!"

"That obscure Nirvana album?"

"That's Roma!"

"The Muslim holiday?"

"That's Ramadan!"

Videl got a disgusted look on her face. "You're one of those nasty people aren't you?"

Ranma facefaulted and stood back up. "That's raunchy! Listen! I'm RAN-MA! Don't you remember anything?"

"Who are you again?"

Ranma calmly walked over to a lamppost and started beating his head against it.

Videl walked up behind him. _I wish I could remember. He seems so nice._ "You shouldn't do that. You'll hurt yourself."

An idea came to Ranma. He dragged Videl to the water hose attached to the faucet on the side of the school building. He turned the hose on and turned the end on himself. The inevitable transformation ensued. "Now do you remember?" Ranma-Chan asked.

Videl's hand shot up to cover her mouth. "You're a cross dresser?"

Ranma-Chan threw her hands up in defeat. "What did I ever do to deserve this?"

Videl gave the redheaded girl a sympathetic look. "I don't know who you are, but you look like you need some help."

Ranma-Chan grabbed two handfuls of hair. "I'm the one who needs help? You're the one who can't remember me!"

"We've obviously never met."

"We have so! I'll prove it!" She started to think. "I know you're rich."

Videl crossed her arms. "Everybody knows that. Try again."

"Your dad has a secret craving for ice cream."

Videl shook her head. "Everybody knows that too. He's the only one that keeps that illusion up."

Ranma-Chan scratched her head. "There is a name you gave my girl side. It was Pan. You wouldn't tell me why you gave me that name."

She looked shock. "I've never told anybody that!"

Ranma began to get excited. "See! See! Now do you remember anything else?"

Videl's features went blank. "Who are you again?"

"AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!" Ranma-Chan begun to pull her hair in frustration.

Videl started to walk off. "Well, It was nice to meet you, whoever you are. Hope to see you again." She turned and strode away.

Ranma-Chan shook her head and started to slowly follow the black haired girl. _What happened? Did Shampoo hit her that hard?_ In the middle of his musing, a hand grabbed her shoulder. Ranma-Chan grabbed the hand by instinct and hurled the would-be attacker into the nearest wall. "Not going to be that easy, pervert!"

The would-be attacker stood up and rubbed his head. "Ungrateful boy!"

Ranma-Chan double-blinked. "Pops? Where you been?"

The older Saotome clenched his fist and shook it at his 'boy'. "Living on the streets trying to find my ungrateful son! You don't know how I've suffered searching for you!"

Ranma-Chan walked up to her father and sniffed his clothes. "Hmmm…cigarette smoke…*sniff* *sniff*…alcohol…I'll tell you right now you were searching in the wrong places."

"Ingrate! I'll teach you how to respect your elders!" Genma rolled up his sleeves.

Ranma-Chan raised an eyebrow in a 'you must be kidding me' look. "Yeah, right. Listen, pops, I'd love to play, but I've got more important things to do than deal with you now."

Genma crossed his arms. "Like chase after that girl. I tell you it's for the best she forgets you. You've stayed here long enough. We need to finish our journey."

Ranma-Chan eyed him with a look of curiosity. "I thought you said we were done."

"We still haven't reached our ultimate destination!" Genma looked off to the east.

Ranma-Chan thought for a second and remembered that they were headed for some dojo when they were sidetracked. He also remembered his father's words. "The site of my greatest adventure?"

"You've got it." The elder Saotome smiled at his private joke.

Ranma-Chan's head throbbed for some unknown reason. "Listen pops, this is more important to me than some scam you've got cooked up for yourself. I've got to figure out what that purple-haired psycho did to her."

Genma started to sweat. "It's hopeless boy. You already know that she won't remember you."

Ranma-Chan narrowed her eyes. "You know something, don't you?"

Genma was sweating profusely. "Yes. That we should be on our way."

Ranma-Chan hauled the older man's head to her eye level by his ear. "You tell me what happened before I give you a tummy tuck with my bare hands and no anesthetic." She formed her free hand in a claw and grabbed a wad of her father's stomach and pulled hard.

"That hurts, boy!" Genma cried.

Ranma-Chan pulled harder. "Tell me!"

"AHHHH!" Genma cried out in pain as Ranma-Chan began to twist the distended flesh.

"Spill it, pop!" Ranma-Chan's patience was running out.

"Okay! I'll tell!" Ranma-Chan let go and the flesh drew back with a snap. "Ouch!" Genma composed himself and pushed his glasses up on his face. "I'll remember it until my dying day. The girl was chasing Shampoo out of the school. Shampoo leapt over a fence and the other followed. Just as the other girl landed, Shampoo came up behind her, and, with a burst of speed, the girl's haired was washed and rinsed in seconds."

Ranma-Chan facefaulted. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Genma smacked his son over the head. "Stupid boy! It's the dreaded attack! The Xi Fang Go Shiatsu Technique!"

Ranma-Chan's jaw dropped. "The Xi Fang Go! Of Course!" She closed her jaw. "What the hell's a Xi Fang Go?"

"It's a technique feared throughout history that causes anyone to forget whatever the inflictor chooses. It's a very powerful and mysterious technique."

Ranma-Chan was getting excited. "So how can I cure it!"

Genma chuckled and puffed up. "I don't know."

Ranma-Chan facefaulted. She got back up and made her hand into a claw again. "Speak now tubby! Or forever lose your stomach!"

"I'm telling you the truth boy. I only know of the technique, not how it's performed or how to cure it." Genma pushed his glasses back on his face. "It's just as well. We must be leaving."

Ranma-Chan clenched her fists. "I'm not leaving! I have to stay! It's a matter of honor!"

Genma harrumphed. "It's a matter of honor that you come along with me to Nerima. Our family is depending on you, boy!"

Ranma-Chan eyed him speculatively. "What are you talking about?"

Genma smiled. _Good a time as any to tell the boy._ "You are to come with me to marry one of the daughters of my best friend Soun Tendo. You and your bride will carry on the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts."

Ranma-Chan's aura began to show, glowing red as the redhead quaked in anger. "You…engaged me…to some…stranger?"

Genma didn't even look at his son. "Not so strange. They are the daughters of my best friend. I'm sure they turned out to be great stock for an excellent bride."

Ranma-Chan's veins were popping out on her head. "You engaged me to someone I don't even know?"

"That's right. It will be great to see my son married and carrying on the art. Then I can retire knowing I have done my duty."

Ranma-Chan's fist clenched and her knuckles turned white. "You're planning to live off me and my teaching at the school, am I right?"

Genma nodded. "Right. Everything will be easy from this day forth."

"NO THANKS!" Ranma-Chan hauled off and launched Genma into the air with all her strength and then some, propelling him into the wild blue yonder. "You wanted to go east so bad! WHY DON'T YOU FLY? I could never betray Videl like that!" She stopped herself. "Did I just say that?" She looked around to see if anyone had heard him. No one was around. "Okay. I've got to find Shampoo and have her give me the cure, whatever it is. I have to get Videl to remember me!" She leapt to the nearest roof and began making rounds about the city.

Towards early evening, she finally spotted her target. She was smiling from ear to ear, enjoying the end of a pleasant afternoon in the park, dreaming about her future husband. Ranma-Chan landed in front of her. "Shampoo! Give me the cure to the Xi Fang Go!"

Shampoo looked up with a little irritation that swiftly changed to rage. "Ranma! I KILL!" She pulled her bonbari from nowhere and started to swing at Ranma-Chan.

The red-haired girl dodged frantically. _Knew I forgot something!_ She ran out of the park and toward the center of town. She ducked in and out of a few alleys and managed to shake her pursuer. She looked around, trying to find a place for warm water. She spotted a Ramen stand and went over to it. "Hot water please!"

The vendor looked at her strange. "You want tea with that?"

"No, just the water." She smiled a nervous smile as she made a quick check up north and south.

"Here you go." The vender gave her a Styrofoam cup with a plastic lid.

Ranma-Chan started digging in her pockets, hoping to find loose change. "How much?"

The vendor smiled. "For a pretty girl like you? It's on the house."

Ranma-Chan chuckled nervously. "Uh, thanks." She walked away from the stand and ducked into an alley. _Who knew I could get free stuff with this curse?_ She upended the water on her head and returned to male form. "Okay. Shampoo should be catching up to me in 3…2…1…"

CRASH! The wall beside Ranma fell, revealing a lavender haired Amazon. "Where is Girl-type Ranma?" She muttered to herself. She spotted the now male Ranma. "Airen!" She glomped onto him.

Ranma tried to remove the new growth on his chest that was squeezing the life out of him. "Hey, Shampoo! *cough* I was just looking for you."

"You give up obstacle girl and decide come China with Shampoo!" Shampoo beamed.

Ranma really took notice of Shampoo. _All this time, and I never noticed her as a girl before. She really is cute. _ He shook his head. _I can't think about her. I have to think about Videl. _"Not quite. I'd really like a cure." Ranma asked hopefully.

Shampoo's face set in a cute scowl. "No! You is my airen! No give help girl!"

Ranma racked his brain for something, anything. "Can't we make a deal?"

Shampoo let go, stepped back, and thought a second. "Here is deal. You kill girl type Ranma, and Shampoo let have cure."

Ranma scratched his head and came up with a solution. "Make that half kill, and you've got a deal."

Shampoo smiled. "Is deal. Shampoo come find airen later." She leapt off to find a spot to sit and wait.

Ranma made plans and bounded off for the Satan estate.

Ranma arrived at the Satan estate to find toward late evening to find Videl practicing in the back yard. He jumped down into the yard. "Videl?"

She jumped back into a defensive stance. "Who are you? What do you want? I'll have you know you picked the wrong woman to try to take by force!"

Ranma started at the comment. "I'm not here to attack you. I'm here to help!"

Videl narrowed her gaze at the pigtailed martial artist. "Yeah, right. Why do I need help?"

"You don't remember me for one thing." Ranma smirked.

Videl shook her head. "Not good enough." She tensed up.

Ranma grimaced as he tried to think of the best way to do this. "Well, how about you do me a favor then?"

Videl laughed. "Ha! I bet you would like that! What kind of favor do you want?"

Ranma smiled. "I want you to hit me as hard as you can."

Videl stopped in her tracks. "What?"

"I want you to hit me as hard as you can. I want you to beat me half to death." Ranma lowered his guard and stood up straight.

Videl paused. "Okay. You asked for it. Although I hate to hit an unarmed stranger." She pulled back to punch.

Her punch never connected, as the butler standing behind her stopped her fist. "What are you doing, young miss?"

Videl turned to him in surprise. "This strange guy just asked me to punch him."

The butler gave her a confused look. "Did you two have a big fight today?"

Videl thought. "No. I've never seen him before."

The butler was truly puzzled. "He's been living here for several weeks now. I thought you two were an item. I know you cared for him a lot."

Videl gave him the classic 'huh?' face. "What are you talking about?"

"She's been hit by the Xi Fang Go Shiatsu Technique. She doesn't remember me." Ranma piped in.

The butler scratched his head. "I see." He thought for a moment more. "There are several ways to cure the Xi Fang Go. One is the correct shampoo."

"Shampoo is the reason we're in this mess." Ranma scoffed.

The butler rolled his eyes. "Not the person, the hair care product. The secret to the Xi Fang Go is the combination of herbs in the shampoo and the technique applied."

Ranma scratched his head. "So I just need to get the shampoo and wash her hair again?"

"You don't know the proper techniques and pressure points."

"Do you?"

"My brother might, but I certainly wouldn't."

"So where's your brother?"

"Nerima. He runs a clinic there."

Ranma's tensed up at the mention of the district as he remembered his father's words. "Sorry, not going there in a million years. You mentioned other cures?"

"The other way is to talk about things that would elicit a high emotional response from the victim."

Ranma thought for a second. "So what can I say?"

Videl put her hands on her hips. "How long are you two going to talk like I'm not here?"

The butler chuckled. "A moment, young miss, and we shall be with you. I promise." He turned his attention back to Ranma. "Now, Ranma, how about telling her how you really feel?"

Ranma tensed up. "I'm not really sure."

"You're here now, aren't you? You're trying everything you can for her and you don't know how you feel?"

Ranma thought it over. He had punched his father into orbit at the mere mention of another woman; he had given up a woman with Shampoo's looks; now here he was trying to get himself beaten half to death for her. "I guess I care about her."

The butler smiled a knowing grin. "I'll leave you two alone." He turned and walked back to the house.

Ranma turned to see Videl looking at him. She stepped up to him. "Who are you?"

Ranma steeled himself. "I'm Saotome Ranma of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. This morning you asked me a question. Do you remember what it was?"

Videl shook her head. "No. I don't remember you at all."

Ranma put his hands on her shoulders. "This morning you asked me if I loved you."

A bolt of lightening went through her head. She put a hand up to her temple. "Ungh." She groaned.

Ranma took this as a good sign. "I asked you if I could stay by your side until I knew the answer. You said, 'as long as you want'. Do you remember that? You said it twice."

Another bolt went through her head leaving a trail of throbbing pain. She clenched her teeth. "I…I…"

Ranma steeled himself. Here was probably the toughest thing he'd ever done in his life. Of course he'd only done it once. He tilted her head up. "Do you remember when you said we were fiancés? When we were trying to make Shampoo go away?" Videl shouted in pain. Ranma responded by planting his lips on hers. He broke the kiss and pulled back. "Videl, I…I…l-love you."

Videl fell to the ground as her head spun. She screamed again and fell to the ground motionless. Ranma turned her over. "Videl? Are you all right?"

She blinked her eyes as if clearing the fog that was surrounding her mind. "R-Ranma?" He nodded and smiled. "Ranma!" She jumped up and hugged him fiercely. She buried her face in his shoulder. "Ranma, I love you too."

"What going on?" They both started as the Amazon made her presence known.

Ranma untangled himself from Videl and pulled her behind him. "Shampoo, I didn't think you'd be here till later."

The Amazon frowned. "Shampoo come to help beat up girl-type Ranma. Find out airen already break Xi Fang Go, and not beat girl-type. Girl is very strong, will take care of though." She pulled out a shampoo bottle and a comb. "Will have airen for self and village."

"I don't think so!" Ranma growled protectively. He kicked the implements out of her hands and sent them flying. "It's time to end this!" He walked around and found the hose for the house. He poured the water over his head, changing into his cursed form. "See? I'm really a girl. I can't marry you." Ranma-Chan spoke softly.

Shampoo's vision started to blur as she started to cry. "No." She whispered softly. "NO!" She shouted as she ran and bounded over the wall, crying the whole time.

Ranma-Chan reached out toward the retreating figure. "Shampoo."

Videl took the outstretched hand and held it. "It's better this way, Ranma. She'll go home, and we can go on with our lives."

Ranma-Chan nodded in agreement, although she still didn't like it. "Let's go to bed."

"Separate beds." The butlers voice came out of nowhere.

"Spoilsport." Videl stuck her tongue out toward the house. "You're right, Ranma, let's call it a day."

"VIDEL!" roared Mr. Satan's voice from the house. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" He came storming out of the house carrying the same newspaper that Ireeza had showed them this morning, showing the couple locked in their kiss.

Videl smiled. _Time to do some pretty fast-talking._ "Hi, daddy. That's…uh…a fake. They superimposed us together like that."

Mr. Satan wasn't fooled for a moment. "WHY'D THEY BOTHER TO SUPERIMPOSE ME IN MY OWN BACK YARD!" Ranma and Videl looked at the picture and realized that the photographer had managed to capture the huge ugly statue of Mr. Satan that adorned his backyard in the background of the shot. A very interesting shot indeed. "I TOLD YOU, YOU COULDN'T DATE ANYONE UNLESS THEY BEAT ME! THIS GUY LOOKS LIKE HE COULDN'T GIVE A FLY A WORKOUT!"

"HEY!" Ranma-Chan shouted. "He could take your flabby butt any day of the week!"

Mr. Satan double-blinked at the newcomer into the conversation. "What do you know about this boy…" He remembered the name Shyapuna had given him. "Saotome Ranma?" Something clicked in his mind. "Hey! Your name is Ranma too! What's going on?" He thought for a second. "AH IT'S A DISGUISE! I'LL TEACH YOU FOR MOLESTING MY LITTLE GIRL!" He thrust his hand forth, grabbed Ranma-Chan's breast, and pulled.

Ranma-Chan kicked him in the face and put a hand over the freed breast. "THAT HURT YOU PERVERT! NOW I'M GOING TO TEACH YOU SOMETHIN'!" Ranma-Chan followed her first kick with a barrage of punches and kicks that quickly set the startled Mr. Satan on his back. "And Ranma's even tougher than me."

Videl was shocked. _Nobody should be able to do that, even if daddy is caught off guard._

Mr. Satan got back to his feet and laughed. "That was luck! You caught me off guard. The boy Ranma could never defeat me!"

Ranma-Chan was beginning to boil over. "Get me some hot water, Videl." She commanded aside.

Videl looked at him. "Are you sure about this?"

Ranma-Chan narrowed her eyes. "Oh, yeah. I'm sure."

"What's the meaning of this?" Mr. Satan asked.

Videl went toward the house, but was met half way from a flying thermos from the butler at the door. "Always keep a spare of both." He explained briefly. Videl rushed back and gave the thermos to Ranma-Chan.

Ranma-Chan emptied the thermos over her head, returning to his natural form. "I'm Saotome Ranma of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I'm the greatest martial artist of my generation." He dropped into a stance. "And I will defeat you!"

Mr. Satan dropped into his stance. "I'm Mr. Satan three-time world champion. I'm the one that defeated Cell." He emphasized that last sentence.

Ranma glared at him. "Who cares?"

Mr. Satan was shocked. "You don't know who Cell is?"

"Should I?"

Mr. Satan brought his stance back. "Doesn't matter. I'm still the greatest of MY generation."

"Time to bridge the generation gap. Kiai!" Ranma leapt forward and began to rain punches and kicks down on Mr. Satan.

Mr. Satan backed up from under the onslaught, but held his ground. This is how he had won most of his fights against smaller opponents. He'd let them tire themselves out, and then he'd strike. He grinned. _Arrogant boy. I'll show you._

Ranma picked up on his tactic when Mr. Satan just covered his face and stood there. _Think you can outlast me, eh?_ He jumped over Mr. Satan's head and landed behind him. He fired off several punches into each kidney and finished off with a blow to the back of one of the older man's knees.

Mr. Satan found himself falling backwards, yelling in pain. He flailed out his arms, trying to catch himself. Ranma caught one of the flailing arms and twisted it over, causing Mr. Satan to land on his head with his back in an extreme bow. Ranma applied pressure to the arm that shot pain through the older man's joints. "I could never defeat you, eh?"

"This…fights…ughn!…is…not…over." Satan tried to stand, causing the arm to twist more.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "I'm going easy on ya for Videl's sake. Do you want me to really hurt you?"

Satan's eyes went wide. "I give up!" He beat the ground with his free hand to tap-out.

Ranma released him and walked over to Videl. "See, I'm the strongest martial artist in the world apparently."

Videl looked up into his blue eyes. "What does that make me?"

Ranma stared into hers. "Your still number two."

Videl giggled. "I guess that's better than three." Their faces closed for a kiss.

Mr. Satan stood to his feet. "HA! You fell for my 'fake I'm defeated move'! You cannot hope to beat me now." Ranma turned and glared at him. He took a step back. "But I'll let you two date anyway."

Ranma nodded, took Videl's hand, and walked toward the house. He just couldn't shake the feeling that his life just got whole lot more interesting.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"The Amazons Strike Back!"

Mr. Satan walked down the halls of his mansion grumbling about the boy that was freeloading and stealing his daughter. It had been a week since they had declared their feelings for each other, and he still wasn't happy about it. He continued his silent tirade until a noise to his left caught his attention.

"Ughn! Go easy on me, Ranma!"

Mr. Satan's eyes went wide. The voice was obviously his Videl!

"Not like this is your first time. Put your leg up, it'll make it a little easier on me."

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"It'll only hurt for a little bit. Just a second…There! Doesn't that feel better?"

"Yeah! Okay, my turn to play doctor!"

Every muscle in Mr. Satan's body tensed up at once. _I'll show that no good boy a thing or two about respect! He's taking the honor of my daughter!_

"God, Videl! You don't have to make it hurt so bad!"

"'It'll only hurt for a little bit.'" Her voice mocked Ranma's earlier tone.

"That does it!" Mr. Satan kicked the door down to see two surprised figures, both fully clothed and trying to bandage each other up from their morning sparring session. They both looked like they had fought a few rounds with a rabid wolverine and came out smiling. Mr. Satan's jaw hit the floor.

Videl waved. "Yo, dad. Uh, why couldn't you just knock if you had to go so bad?"

Ranma looked at the older man. "Or isn't there another bathroom in this house? Man, you don't look so good. You look a little pale."

Mr. Satan finally got his wits back about him. He was still a little upset, especially since his daughter was sporting a shiner. Of course Ranma had one to match. "What happened to you two?"

Videl rubbed a bandage on her cheek. "It's not what you think. I told Ranma that I wanted him to go all out. He wouldn't listen until I blacked his eye. Then we just sort of got a little carried away."

"But you can't tell me it wasn't fun." Ranma smiled at her.

Videl laughed. "Yeah, it was. We'll have to keep doing it."

Ranma shook his head. "Hey, I don't want to hurt you!"

Videl socked him in the jaw, but with no real intent. "I won't get any better if you don't!"

"Just one request."

Videl lifted an eyebrow. "What?"

"Don't kick me in the nuts like that again, for Kami's sake!"

"Hey, Anything Goes. It got your attention, didn't it?"

"Hey! I'd like to have kids one day!" They both stopped as if they had just been struck.

"Eh-hum." They both turned to see that Mr. Satan was still standing in the room. "There will be no talk of kids while I'm around!"

Videl smiled a playful grin. "Okay, then leave." Mr. Satan's face went pale again. "Just kidding, daddy! Come on, Ranma, we're going to be late for school!"

The school day was uneventful, as uneventful as any day in Ranma's life could be that is. A few crimes thwarted, one Shyapuna attack batted aside, a couple passes by Ireeza, and Ranma and Videl were happily roof hopping on their way home. They landed and the butler opened the door for them. "Something arrived for you in the mail, Ranma."

Ranma turned to the older man. "Who the heck knows I'm here? Who would send me a package anyway?"

The butler shook his head. "I have no idea, but here it is. I believe someone sent you an animal by the air holes." He handed the package to an even more perplexed Ranma.

"I don't have any pets that anyone would send me." He looked at the box speculatively. Suddenly, it started to shake and purple blur buzzed past him and bounced around the room a few times, coming to rest on top of a china cabinet behind Ranma.

Videl recognized the form. "It's a cat! Who would send you a cat, Ranma?" No response. "Ranma?"

Ranma's pigtail was sticking straight up in the air as he slowly backed away from the animal. "N-Nice K-K-Kitty." His eyes were that of total fear for his life, something that Videl had never seen on his face.

"Ranma? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

He raised a shakey finger toward the purple cat was looking at Ranma with a sad look on its face. "C-c-c-cat!" The cat suddenly jumped on his chest, and he fell back with his arms flailing. "!"

Videl's eyes went wide at the cry of utter terror that came from her boyfriend. She decided to take matters into her own hands. She picked up the cat. The cat slashed at her hands. "OUCH! Open the door, Shiro!" The butler opened the door and Videl chunked the cat out the door with a look of satisfaction on her face. She bent down to examine a now relieved Ranma. "Are you all right? What was that?"

There were still some tremors going through Ranma's body as he got back to his feet. "D-damn pops training! He thought it'd be a great idea to throw me into a put of starving cats when I was around five tied up in fish cakes. He kept on doing it over and over again."

The butler had a concerned look on his face. "The Neko-Ken training?"

Ranma's face lit up in surprise. "You've heard of it?" 

Shiro nodded. "Unfortunately. My brother has told me of some the oddest training techniques he's heard about. This one he mentioned causing the recipient to become quite insane. The technique was supposed to have been banned for that reason."

Videl shook her head. "They should put a warning on it."

The butler nodded. "They did actually, but some people choose to ignore them."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Sounds like something pops would do."

Videl looked at Ranma with a sympathetic eye. _And here I thought I had a bad father. Ranma's been through so much, and it's all his father's fault._ She silently vowed to eviscerate the bastard if she ever met him.

The butler looked Ranma over from head to toe. "So did you suffer any other side effects besides the ailurophobia?"

Ranma got a confused look on his face. "Ailura-who?"

The bulter rolled his eyes. "A fear of cats."

Ranma thought for a second. "Well, sometimes I have blackouts. I don't remember anything, but pops told me I act like a cat."

Videl's face was filling with even more anger at Ranma's father. "Who could do that to their own child?"

Ranma snorted. "Someone who wanted their kid to be the best martial artist in the world, no matter what. Sometimes I wonder if he ever had my interests in mind."

Videl scowled. "Obviously. What else did he do to you?"

"Like he en…uh, he did some bad stuff. I'd really don't want to talk about it."

The raven-haired girl let it slide and sighed, her features returning to a brighter mood. _I probably don't want to know. Most likely it'll just make me want to kill his father more._ "So what else did you want to do today?"

Ranma brightened up. "How about train some more?"

Videl shook here. _The boy has a one-track mind. Maybe I should do something to derail it._ "How about we go out for a movie?"

Ranma shrugged. "I think there's a new Jackie Chan flick out."

She shook her head. _The boy is absolutely thick. Oh well, it's better than nothing._ "Okay, I'll go change. We should probably grab a bath. We did some heavy crime fighting today."

He nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, I still haven't figured out why those guys were beating people up with goofy masks on."

Videl shrugged. "Some people."

Ranma and Videl headed toward separate bathrooms to cleanup up for their 'date'. Ranma knew that Videl would take a while longer than he would to get ready so he knew he some time to relax. Ranma opened the door to the bathroom and was unaware that another presence followed him.

Ranma started with the cold rinse and shivered as the cold water and his transformation came over him. Ranma-Chan washed herself quickly and efficiently, after all if she took time to explore her female body, someone would call her a pervert. She finished up and at last stepped into the hot bath and relaxed as he felt his natural form take over. "Ahhh!" He closed his eyes and leaned back.

"Purrr…"

Ranma's eyes opened wide in a flash. He sat up and looked excitedly around the room. Nothing. He finally sighed and relaxed again. "Just my imagination." He closed his eyes once again.

"Meow."

"AHHHHHHH!" He shot straight up out of the water and landed beside the tub in a defensive stance. There before his eyes was the source of that dreaded sound. The same purple cat from this morning was sitting at the entrance of the bath staring at his naked form with a look of hunger in its eyes. Ranma backed slowly towards the tub. "Niiiiice kitty. Oh please don't eat me! Uh, good kitty…."

The cat started to stalk forward, the carnivorous gleam still in its eye. Ranma's eyes went wide in sheer terror. He felt his heel hit the bathtub, nowhere else to run. He would have just thrown the cat out the window, if he weren't so frightened of it.

Finally the cat leapt at its prey. Ranma threw his arms up to shield his face. The motioned leaned him backwards and the cat landing on his chest pushed him the rest of the way over into the tub. He came up sputtering for breath and found that there was a much larger body in the bath than a cat.

"Ranma! You is real man! Wo Ai Ni!" The nude form of Shampoo glomped onto Ranma.

"AHHHHHH! What the hell are you doing here?" Ranma tried to pry the new growth off of his body.

"Shampoo so happy you no girl! Now we is married!" Shampoo purred into his neck.

"AHHHHHH! Don't do that!"

"What's going on in here?"

Ranma and Shampoo's heads snapped around to where Videl had stormed in wearing only her bathrobe. She saw the Amazon wrapped around her Ranma wearing nothing more than a smile.

Ranma was sweating bullets. "IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!" He tried again to pry Shampoo off of him.

Shampoo latched on harder. "What wrong, Airen? You no complain before."

"AHHHHH!"

Videl was getting real tired of hearing Ranma's shouts, that were obviously not from pleasure. Her anger grew as she walked over and grabbed Shampoo by the nape of the neck. "Get…out…of…my…house…" She pulled back hard and Shampoo released Ranma from the pain going through her frame. Shampoo made a vain attempt to strike Videl, but only hit her robe. "And…stay…away…from…RANMA!" Videl dropkicked the Amazon out the window.

Ranma chuckled nervously. "Uh, thanks." His eyes went wide again as he realized that he was once again standing before Videl completely in the buff.

Videl locked onto his form again and froze. Her robe fell open from Shampoo's earlier attack. Ranma froze as he got his first real good look at Videl.

"What's going on in here?" Mr. Satan stormed in to see his daughter standing with her robe open in front of an even barer Ranma. His teethed ground as he started seething in anger.

Ranma grabbed the nearest towel and covered himself while Videl closed her robe. They both looked at him and spoke at once. "IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!"

Veins were standing on Mr. Satan's forehead as he strode forward, his hands flexing and unflexing. "YOU'RE TRYING TO SEDUCE MY DAUGHTER!"

Ranma thought fast. He struck a dramatic pose and stuck his fist in the air. "Saotome final attack!" Mr. Satan stopped for an instant, that instant was all Ranma needed. "RUN AWAY!" He threw the towel over Mr. Satan's head and ran passed him and out of the bathroom.

Videl chuckled nervously as she decided that maybe that tactic would be best. She turned and bolted after the pigtailed martial artist. "This is just not a good day for dad and bathrooms…"

Across town a giant wooden duck settled down in a construction area. The workers all stopped to see the odd sight. The canvas covering the top opened up and a diminutive figure hopped atop the false avian. It was an old woman standing atop a small staff. Her white hair trailed down past her body and halfway down her pole. "Son-In-Law?" She glanced around at all the construction workers looking at her. "Have any of you seen my Son-In-Law?"

The crane worker wasn't paying attention and drew in his wench too far. The steel I-beam that was on the hook broke loose and plummeted towards the unsuspecting old woman.

The crowd ran as the steel beam fell, hoping that the woman would see it in time to save herself. They certainly were not going to help her. She was old enough to have lived a good life…

The woman looked up and nonchalantly pointed her staff upward just as the girder was about to smash her. The beam struck the point of her staff and quickly disintegrated. The construction workers could only stare with slack jaws and wide eyes.

The old woman brushed herself off. "Now have any of you seen my Son-In-Law?" Everyone just shook their head. "All right, does anyone know where Satan lives?"

One not-so-bright looking man scratched his head. "Uh, hell?" His coworker beside him slapped him senseless.

The foreman pointed toward the Satan Estate. "Mr. Satan lives that way. You can't miss his house."

The old woman nodded. "Thank you." She bounded the direction indicated, using the staff like a pogo stick. She hopped on a few of the construction worker's hard hats when they were in her way. Quickly she made her way out of the site and toward the den of Satan.

Back at the Satan estate a very furious Mr. Satan was pacing back and forth in front of three teenagers. They were sitting on the back porch watching him try to pace a trench into the ground. Ranma and Videl had an apprehensive look on their face. Ranma was in his usual red and black Chinese attire. Videl was wearing orange jumper over a long sleeved black shirt and biking shorts. Shampoo was just sitting there with an amused grin on her face wearing a purple silk dress that barely covered her assets.

Mr. Satan turned to the teens abruptly and pointed an accusatory finger at them. "Now I want to know exactly what's going on, and I want to know now!"

Videl took a deep breath. "Well, you see daddy…" She went into a brief description of what Shampoo was doing there and the laws that said she was married to Ranma. She also gave her side of the bathroom story. "So you see, it was all a misunderstanding."

Mr. Satan got a sly look on his face. Well, it would have looked sly on anyone else's face, but on him it made him look constipated. "I see. Ranma, why are you bothering my little girl when you already have a wife?"

Ranma stiffened up. "SHE'S NOT MY WIFE!"

Shampoo leaned into him and nuzzled his neck. "Sure Shampoo is you wife. Is law!" She reached her hand up Ranma's leg.

Videl slapped her hand away and hauled Ranma toward her. "That's just a stupid law in your village! This is Japan, not backwoods China!"

"Get hands off Airen!" Shampoo tried to haul Ranma back toward her. Ranma just looked helplessly forward as the two girls started to play tug-of-war with his arms.

"I see that this is a unique situation."

Everyone turned to see the short wrinkled old woman standing in the yard atop her staff. Ranma gave her a repulsed look. "It's a ghoul!"

Cologne was beside him in an instant and swatted him in the head with her staff. WHACK! "You need to show more respect to your elders."

Ranma rubbed the back of his head. He hadn't even seen her move. "Ow. That hurt you old ghoul. Who the heck are you anyways?"

Shampoo smiled. "Shampoo glad to see great-grandmother. Ranma, this is Khon Lon."

Ranma shook his head. "Great, first it's Shampoo, and now it's Cologne. What next? Hair Dryer?" WHACK! Ranma rubbed the second lump on the back of his head. "Would you quit that, you old troll!" He turned and threw a punch at the figure atop the staff. The old woman easily dodged and sent another rap to the side of his head.

Mr. Satan had had enough of being ignored in his own house. "Who the hell are you! Get off my lawn! I'm trying to dish out some discipline here!"

Cologne landed in front of Mr. Satan. "I'm Khon Lon the Matriarch of the Amazon tribe. Who are you to be giving orders to me?"

The elder Satan took a step back at the abruptness of her appearance in front of him. "I'm Mr. Satan! The Tenkaichi Budokai champion and the man who defeated Cell!"

Cologne rolled her eyes. _I knew we should have sent more entrants into that tournament. Especially after that Goku kid quit showing up. Of course Ranfan wasn't the best one to send…_ She shook her head. "You my be the champion, but you certainly didn't defeat Cell."

Mr. Satan took a step back. "W-what do you mean? Of course I beat him! Haven't you seen my press?"

Cologne shook her head. "You don't have an aura sufficient to even be seen, much less be the one that I sensed destroy Cell."

Ranma and Videl both looked on in concern. Videl because her father's word was coming into question, Ranma because he was beginning to think that he should have bothered to learn more about this Cell guy.

Mr. Satan huffed up and put his hands on his hips. "Those were all just tricks! I defeated him using good old-fashioned brute strength!"

Cologne narrowed her eyes. "Mindless brute you mean. You're lying." To prove her point, she knocked the man off his feet with a single wave of her staff.

Videl turned to Ranma as her father was getting back to his feet. "Do something, Ranma! She has to be lying!" A desperate look was on her face.

Ranma shrugged. "What-dya want me to do?"

"Get her out of here! She's trying to ruin the honor of our family!"

Ranma shrugged. _All this family honor stuff coming up all the sudden, I hope it's not a trend._ "Yo, Old Ghoul! Leave the idiot alone. I'm the one you came for. Let's fight!"

Cologne turned an amused grin to him. "So you want to marry me as well as Shampoo?"

Ranma cringed and fought hard to keep his lunch down. "That's disgusting! Who'd want to marry a shriveled up raisin like you?" WHACK! "Would you stop doing that?"

"Not until you learn to respect your elders. Now you will come back to China with me and marry Shampoo, is that clear?"

"No way, you old bat?" WHACK! "THAT'S IT! KIAI!" He threw a punch at the elder. She easily evaded. He tried again, same results. "I'll get you!" He started to chase her around the yard.

Shampoo and Videl were sitting on the porch with large sweatdrops on their heads. Mr. Satan was still lying on the ground, too embarrassed to get up. Shampoo spoke first. "Ranma best listen to great-grandmother. He no can beat her."

Videl turned an angry expression the younger Amazon's way. "Hey! Ranma always wins! He'll catch her!" Ranma's shouts of 'get back here, old ghoul' was heard from her side.

Shampoo smiled. "You was saying?"

Videl sweatdropped again.

Cologne hopped to the top of the wall. "Come on Sonny-boy! You can't be tired yet!"

Ranma had stopped for a second to catch his breath. "It's long from over!" He leapt at her once again, and she easily evaded. She led Ranma off into the afternoon sun.

Shampoo giggled and followed shortly after, a silly smile plastered on her face.

Videl just shook her head. She walked over helped her father up. "What was she talking about with the auras?"

Mr. Satan shook his head. "Nothing! She was obviously fooled by Cell's tricks!"

Videl had a doubtful expression on her face. "Were you really the one who beat Cell?"

Mr. Satan laughed. "Of course! No one can beat your dad!"

Videl smacked her forehead. _Ranma and that old bat did! What really happened out there?_

The sun was setting on the outskirts of Satan City. The sounds of approaching darkness filled the air. The red of the sun passing into the horizon shone on the figure of the elder Amazon as she wistfully watched it leave for another night.

"Finally caught up with you, old ghoul."

Cologne smiled and narrowed her eyes, but did not turn around. "I didn't even hear you. Shampoo chose well indeed. Why don't you just come back with us to China? There's nothing for you here."

Ranma scowled. "Videl is here. As long as I have feelings for her, I'll be here."

"Oh really. What if I were to tell you that by the end of week you will be begging to come to China with us?"

Ranma crossed his arms. "Heh, yeah right."

Cologne turned and struck the middle of Ranma's chest with the end of her staff. "We'll both see. Until tomorrow, Son-In-Law." She hopped off the roof they were on and off into the city.

Ranma just stood there absently rubbing the spot she had just struck. "What was that all about?"

Later that evening, Ranma was settling in for another bath. He washed with the cold water again and then tried to step into the bath. "IT'S HOOOOOT!" Ranma-Chan quickly filled the bucket with cold water and dumped it over herself. She shook her head and figured it must have been a mistake she jumped in and quickly jumped out crying out in pain.

Videl burst in, fully clothed this time, to find Ranma-Chan dumping another bucket of cold water over herself. "What's wrong?"

Ranma-Chan pointed to the bathtub. "The water is scalding!"

Videl waved her hand over the water, trying to feel any heat off of it. When she didn't feel very much, she stuck her hand in. "This water's lukewarm. What the matter?" She splashed Ranma-Chan to emphasize her point.

Ranma-Chan shouted in pain again. "IT'S HOOOOOT!"

Videl was completely stupefied. She could tell Ranma-Chan wasn't faking it. "What happened?"

Ranma quickly ran over the events of the day. She finally touched the spot on her chest between her breasts. "The old ghoul." She said quietly.

"What?" Videl asked.

"The old ghoul did this." Ranma-Chan said louder.

"That's right sonny." They both turned to see Cologne standing on the windowsill. "That pressure point I hit makes your body as sensitive as a cat's tongue. Until you agree to come to China with Shampoo and I, you will never be able to touch hot water again."

Ranma-Chan's jaw dropped. "I'll never be able to be a guy again?"

Mr. Satan burst in. "WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?"

Videl quickly turned. "IT'S NOT WHAT YOU…oh never mind."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

"How To Get Your Nuts Out Of The Fire"

Videl and Ranma-Chan walked slowly toward Orange Star High. Ranma-Chan had a scowl on her face as she walked with her head hung low. Videl only watched her with a concerned look on her face. Ranma-Chan muttered something. Videl looked at her and asked, "What was that?"

Ranma-Chan huffed a little. "I can't believe you talked me into going to school like this. How am I supposed to explain they way I look!"

Videl had a pained look on her face. "Ranma, you've missed almost a week's worth of classes! I couldn't let you fail."

"Why not? Not like I'm going to use any of this school crap anyways."

Videl turned and stopped in front of the redhead. "Ranma! You have to get an education if you're going to get anywhere in life!"

Ranma-Chan looked up at her with a defiant look on her face. "I went to China without no education!"

"Without 'any' education, and that's not what I meant!" The black haired girl crossed her arms. "Look, if you ever want to open a dojo or anything you have to get a diploma. College is completely optional as far as I'm concerned, but you have to graduate from High School!"

Ranma-Chan scowled at her. "But how am I going to get an education as a girl! They'll think I'm a completely different student! I can't tell them about my curse. I'll be laughed out of the school!"

Videl shrugged. "We'll just tell them that Ranma's sick and you're getting his homework and notes."

"Why couldn't you do that and leave me alone back at the house?"

Videl gritted her teeth. "Listen, to you! You sound like the world has come to an end!"

The pigtailed redhead clenched her fists. "IT IS! I'M A GUY! I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS!"

Videl raised her hand and slapped him across the face, drawing an astonished gaze from Ranma-Chan. The smaller girl put a hand to her reddening cheek. "Listen to you! I thought the great Saotome Ranma never lost! You can't give up now! There has to be a way out of this!"

"But what can I do with this body! It not strong enough to beat that old ghoul!" Ranma-Chan pouted.

Videl lifted the other girl's chin. "Ranma, do you think I'm weak?"

Ranma-Chan still felt the sting of the first slap and wasn't eager for another one. "Uh, no." _Good answer,_ she thought.

"Then what makes you think your girl form is weak? You fought me like this before and still beat me. Why can't you defeat that old ghoul as well?"

Ranma-Chan's expression changed to one of deep thought. Videl's word's struck a chord deep down. After a minute or two, something clicked back into place. Ranma-Chan began to smile. "Maybe you're right."

Videl smiled back. "Of course, I'm right. Now how about we go show that old bat that she picked the wrong people to mess with after school?"

Ranma-Chan's confidence was returning at a rapid rate. "Sounds like a date to me."

"AIREN!" *Glomp*

Ranma-Chan found herself with a large purple lump on her chest. "Shampoo! Getoffame!"

Shampoo leaned back with a pained look on her face. "Airen no happy see wife?"

"You ain't my wife!"

Videl was going nuts from all the bad grammar. "Let him go Shampoo! We've got bigger fish to fry than you right now."

Shampoo smiled a smug grin at the daughter of Mr. Satan. "You never beat great-grandmother. She is very old and skilled."

Ranma-Chan scowled. "Just go away!"

Shampoo got a feigned hurt look on her face. "But Shampoo only come help Airen."

"Help what? Get his butt bruised from tackling him?" Videl demanded.

Shampoo smiled. "Help Airen become man again."

Videl growled. "And why would you do something like that?"

Shampoo poked one of Ranma-Chan's breasts. "I no like him like this. Maybe pervert girl do?"

Videl's face lit up in disbelief. "All right, bimbo girl, first get off of Ranma. Second, say your piece and leave!"

Shampoo let go of Ranma-Chan, much to her relief, and stood up, scowling the whole time. "Full body cat's tongue have cure."

That got Ranma-Chan's attention. In exactly 0.5 seconds, she was on her feet with the collars (or as close to collars of her dress that she could grab onto in this case) in her hands, hauling the Amazon off the ground despite being shorter. "THERE'S A CURE! YOU GOTTA TELL ME!"

Shampoo smiled a smug grin. "Shampoo tell if go on date."

Ranma-Chan didn't even think. "OKAY!"

SMASH!

Videl removed her fist from the hole she had just buried Ranma-Chan in. She turned to the Amazon with a fire blazing in her eyes. "That's it, you little hussy! I've told you before to keep your hands off of my man!" She grabbed the Amazon by the throat and threw her against the wall. "Now tell me how to get Ranma back to normal!" Videl was almost visibly glowing with anger.

Shampoo struggled for breath. "Why…Shampoo…tell…you?"

Videl's expression hardened. "Because if you don't, I'll kill you right here." She squeezed Shampoo's neck for emphasis.

"ACK! Good answer." Shampoo struggled to get loose.

Ranma-Chan came up and put a hand on Videl's shoulder. "Come on, Videl. Let her loose. You don't want to kill her."

Videl blinked and realized what she was doing. She immediately let Shampoo loose. The Amazon fell to the ground coughing for breath.

Ranma-Chan knelt down beside the Amazon. "Shampoo, tell me how I can be cured. No threats, no dates, just the truth."

Shampoo coughed a couple more times. "Phoenix pill."

"What?" Ranma leaned closer.

"Great-grandmother have phoenix pill. Is only cure for full body cat's tongue."

Ranma shook Shampoo's shoulders. "Where is it?"

Shampoo looked up at him. "Is around great-grandmother's neck."

Ranma got a maniacal look on his face. "And this can cure me?" Shampoo nodded. "THAT'S GREAT! See you guys later!" With that he tore off toward the center of town, leaving a trail of dust flying behind him.

Videl turned to follow him, but the sound of Shampoo clearing her throat made her turn back again. The Amazon narrowed her eyes at the daughter of Mr. Satan. "Is not finished between us."

Videl narrowed hers as well. "We'll see. That was you last warning about Ranma." She turned on her heel and left the Amazon standing there defiantly.

Ranma-Chan was running frantically through the street trying to find where Cologne was. He finally stopped in front of the most likely structure he could find. It was a brand-spanking new Ramen shop. "The Neko-Hanten? Cat-Spot, this must be the place." She strode in and saw the matriarch of the Amazon tribe working behind the counter. "Yo, old ghoul! I've come for the cure!"

Cologne smiled in amusement. "And what cure would that be, Son-In-Law?"

Ranma-Chan's brows furrowed. "I've come for the phoenix pill."

"Oh this old thing?" Cologne showed Ranma the locket hanging from her neck. It was a rather large red oval container with kanji written on it. "It's all yours, if you can take it from me, that is."

Ranma-Chan rolled up the sleeves on her red Chinese shirt. "No problem. I'll be a man again before dinner time."

Cologne chuckled. "I knew that Shampoo would find a husband with some spunk, and a sense of humor."

Ranma-Chan flexed her hands. "Laugh this off." She leapt up and over the counter at Cologne. The diminutive woman stepped back and whipped the head of her staff around, sending Ranma headlong into the far wall of the restaurant.

"You'll have to do better than that, Son-In-Law." She chuckled with a smug grin on her face.

"Why you…" Ranma-Chan dove in again, only to be thrown into the wall at the back of the restaurant.

"You're about three-hundred years behind to catch up with me, boy." Cologne scoffed in amusement.

"I'll get you…" Ranma-Chan stalked slowly up to the serving counter. She made a high leap, intending to land out of reach of the old ghoul and then spring for a low attack. In mid-air, Cologne hopped under her and swatted her out the door with minimal effort. Ranma-Chan could here the old woman's cackling from the street.

"Come on, sonny-boy. I haven't had this much fun in a hundred years." 

Ranma-Chan grit her teeth and growled. "That's it! FULL ASSAULT!" She charged in ready to beat the living crap out of the shriveled raisin on a stick. She led off with a complex combination of punches meant to throw the opponent off balance while the foot swept them off their feet, leaving them at the mercy of the attacker.

Cologne just laughed, and, with a simple whip of her staff, sent Ranma-Chan flying out the door again. This time she landed in the trash heap across the street. "Keep trying, Son-In-Law! I don't want to get bored!"

Ranma-Chan gritted her teeth until a sign in the window caught her eye. She took it down and walked it into the Neko Hanten. She held up the 'help wanted' sign and pointed to it. "Hey, old ghoul, can anyone apply?"

Later that night, Videl was getting nervous. She hadn't seen or heard anything from Ranma since before school. She kept checking the clock periodically. _I'd better go find him,_ she thought. _He's probably hurt in a gutter somewhere. Oh my! What if they've knocked him out and took him back to China!_ She jumped out of her seat and turned toward the front door.

About that time the door opened and Ranma-Chan walked in, or, more accurately, dragged herself in. She looked like she had run a marathon an hour since this morning. She stumbled and started to fall forwards. Videl caught her before she fell too far. "What happened?"

Ranma-Chan cracked a smile. "Gotta job."

Videl rolled her eyes. "Doing what? Rhino wrestling?"

Ranma-Chan chuckled. "Waitressing at the Neko Hanten."

Videl looked confused. "What's that?"

"The old ghoul's new restaurant. I've been trying to take the phoenix pill from her all day while she's been working me like a dog."

Videl pulled the smaller redhead close. "I could help you know."

Ranma-Chan shook her head. "No. I gotta do this myself. I've gotta beat her at her own game." With that, she fell asleep in Videl's arms.

Videl shook her head. "Poor, poor, stupid Ranma." She kissed her on the forehead, scooped the surprisingly light redhead up in her arms, and carried Ranma-Chan to her room.

The next morning Ranma-Chan woke Videl up for their morning sparring. Ranma-Chan had a determined look on her face as she stretched out quickly and efficiently. "Gonna get that ghoul today!" She kept repeating to herself.

Videl was started to get scared at how obsessed the pigtailed girl was getting. "Are you sure you're okay, Ranma? You sure you don't want my help?"

Ranma-Chan smiled. "I actually need your help in the mornings. We're going to do nothing but speed drills until I get that pill!"

Videl sweatdropped at the amount of determination that was poured into that statement. She resigned herself to no actual combat training for the foreseeable future.

After an hour and a half of intense speed training drills, Videl dropped to the floor and breathed heavily. "Enough! You're going to kill me!"

Ranma-Chan had a hurt look on her face. "But I need you to help me train!"

The dark haired girl pulled herself back to her feet. "You'll never get it if you wear yourself out in the morning. Besides we need to get to school."

The redhead stuck her lower lip out. "I'm NOT going to school as a GIRL! You just get my assignments and I'll go to work. Tell them I had to get a job to pay for my family's funeral or something."

Videl rolled her eyes. "Okay, but I'm going to come check up on you after school, okay?"

"Okay." Ranma-Chan took off at a trot toward the Neko Hanten.

Videl shook her head and sighed. "When he sets his mind to something, there's no stopping him." She turned the corner to her high school. She silently wondered why she stopped flying to school even when they weren't rooftop hopping. It became obvious to her when she realized that Ranma had been getting her up much earlier than she did before and it afforded her the time to have a pleasant walk to school. Although she missed having Ranma beside her now…

She was startled out of her thoughts when there was a buzz going around the schoolyard. Videl's senses were telling her that something was very wrong. Ireeza came up to her. "'Morning Videl, uh can I ask you a question?"

Videl's brows furrowed. "Sure, go ahead."

The blonde shifted her weight back and forth from one leg to another. "Is it true, that Ranma…is…uh…available?"

Videl's danger senses were going wild now, but she managed to keep it out of her speech. "What do you mean?"

"Is it true you two broke up?"

The black haired girl's eyes bugged out. "OF COURSE NOT! WHAT MADE YOU THINK A THING LIKE THAT?"

Ireeza took a step back. "Well, he wasn't here yesterday or today and nobody's seen him in three days. There were rumors that he had run off with the Amazon woman."

Videl looked a little pensive. "You don't say…and who did you hear this from?"

The blonde looked around. "Your father told Shyapuna, and he's been telling the whole school. I was hoping to get a chance to take Ranma out, if you were done with him that is." She looked hopeful.

Videl's muscles tensed up and she spun around, trying to find the muscle bound idiot who was trying to be her father's protégé. She found him leaning against a tree with a smug look on his face. "Just a second." She stepped away from Ireeza. She strode over in front of Shyapuna.

He smiled and waved. "Good morning, Videl. How are you today?"

Videl sneered. "Just peachy." She punched him in the gut. When he doubled over, she flipped the blonde boy out into the middle of the courtyard. "RANMA AND I DID NOT BREAK UP!" She turned and stormed into the school.

Ireeza looked between the moaning boy and the fuming girl. "You could have just said it wasn't true." She shook her head and helped the boy to his feet. "A word of advice Shyapuna."

The boy looked at her. His movements were groggy and unsteady. "Wassat?"

"Confirm rumors before you spread them. Somebody important might get hurt next time."

Shyapuna nodded his head. About thirty seconds later Ireeza's words finally sunk in. "HEY!"

After school was out, Videl was walking toward the ramen shop rubbing her temples. She was getting really tired of telling everyone that she and Ranma had not broken up. She had finally decided to tell everyone that he had gone on a training journey, which wasn't too far from the truth. When she got to the Neko Hanten she saw a line that wrapped around the block. She went up to one of the people in line. "What's going on here?"

The man pointed to the restaurant. "There supposed to be a beautiful waitress in there that can perform amazing feats of acrobatics while serving food. It's the most entertaining restaurant in town."

Videl slapped a hand over her face. _That has to be Ranma. What the hell is going on in there?_ She stepped up to the front of the line. There was an aged balding man getting ready to go in. "Hey, mister. Do you mind if I cut ahead of you?" She tried to give her best cute sucker-anybody smile.

The old man adjusted his glasses and saw who it was. "Videl! Why I'd be honored to let the daughter of Mr. Satan go in front of me."

"Thanks!" She smiled and went in, the sight she saw stopped her in her tracks.

In the middle of the room was Ranma-Chan, balancing no less than seven bowls of ramen on her person. She somehow managed to get them all passed out when a call of, "Three deluxe ramen, five teas!" Came from the kitchen. Videl turned in time to see eight objects fly from the kitchen window and go in trajectories all around the room. Ranma-Chan zipped all over the room. She caught the first ramen in her right hand, a tea in the other. She caught two more teas in the crooks of her elbows, another tea on the top of her head and the last on the tip of her right foot. The last bowl of ramen started falling to the floor, but Ranma-Chan somehow managed to catch it on a pair of chopsticks in her mouth. The crowd went wild with cheers and applause. With some mumbled thanks, Ranma-Chan quickly and efficiently passed out the food and drinks.

Videl numbly sat down at a vacant table and watched as another barrage came from the kitchen. Somehow Ranma-Chan managed to catch and distribute them all again. At one point Ranma-Chan got close enough to the kitchen to be in arms reach of Cologne. The redhead shot out her hand for the pink necklace around the elder's neck. After a few seconds of fencing with their arms, Cologne sent the pigtailed girl flying across the room. Ranma-Chan landed in a crouch just as another order came up. She caught the orders in a very awkward stance and lightly tossed the bowls to the patron's tables, not spilling a drop. Again applause followed.

Videl shook her head as Ranma-Chan walked up to her table with a dazed look on her face. "Welcome to the Neko Hanten, can I take your order?" She spoke like she was in a trance.

The black haired girl chuckled. "Ranma! It's me!"

Ranma-Chan blinked. "Oh hi, Videl. Is it time for school to be over already?"

"It was over two hours ago!"

"Really? I must have lost track of time."

"Three orders ramen and two crab Rangoon!" Came the cry from the kitchen.

Ranma-Chan jumped back and caught the bowls of ramen on her left arm while she caught the plates for the crab Rangoon in her right; a shower of fried crab followed the plates. Ranma-chan moved around frantically to catch them all on the plates in a decorative arrangement. More cheers came from the patrons.

By the time the redhead found her way back to Videl's table, she looked like she had just came out of a train wreck. "Are you sure you don't need any help?" Videl asked.

Ranma-Chan smiled weakly. "I'm Saotome Ranma. I never lose."

The daughter of Mr. Satan patted the smaller girl lightly on the back. "Hang in there."

Ranma-Chan fell over from the light pat, exhausted.

"Order up!"

The redhead shot bolt upright and went back to frantically catching orders and trying to swipe the necklace from the Amazon elder.

Videl shook her head. "How long can he last?"

A few days later, Videl watched Ranma-Chan catch and distribute greater amounts of food at even greater speed, but she was still not fast enough to grab the phoenix pill from the old ghoul. Videl looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost time for Ranma-Chan to get off work. _I suppose I'll have to carry the bullheaded idiot home again…_ She thought. She would have bereted him more, but she knew that he was determined to get his manhood back.

Ranma-Chan said goodbye to the last customer and locked the front entrance. "Time to for me to go, Old Ghoul, but I'm gonna get that pill tomorrow!" She said with fierce determination.

"Just a moment, Son-In-Law. Come out back to the alley. I want to show you something."

Ranma-Chan and Videl went back to the alley. Right in the middle of the alley was a campfire with Shampoo and Cologne standing behind it. Ranma-Chan stood at a good distance because of her sensitivity to the fire.

Cologne produced a bag of water chestnuts. "Now Ranma, I will show you an ancient Amazon technique feared by the greatest emperors of China, The Chestnuts Roasting Over an Open Fire."

Shampoo jumped up and clapped her hands. "Aiya! Airen lucky that great-grandma show ancient technique!"

Cologne threw the chestnuts into the fire, waited a couple seconds for the nuts to get warm, and then her arms became a blur. In a cloud of rapid hand movements, she opened her hands to reveal the nuts, clearly roasted through.

Videl and Ranma's eyes lit up in wonder. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken." They both breathed under their breath.

Cologne smiled with the knowledge that the children were suitably impressed. "Now you can go Ranma. See you bright and early in the morning."

The entire walk home, Ranma-Chan was giddy with excitement. "I can do that! I can do anything martial arts! I can learn that technique and get that pill!" Her fist clenched and unclenched rapidly.

Videl rubbed her temples. "How are you going to train for that? You can't go near a fire!"

Ranma-Chan stopped and her expression dropped. "I forgot."

Videl facefaulted. She picked herself up, and they continued walking. "If only there was some way of competing against my dad's speed of jumping to conclusions."

Ranma-Chan nodded. "I'll think of something."

When they arrived at the Satan mansion. Ranma-Chan went straight for the back yard and went about building a fire. She went to the kitchen and grabbed a bag of chestnuts and took them outside. She tossed the nuts into the fire and started to make punches at the fire. She stopped them all way too short.

Videl shook her head. "I told you."

"I've gotta to do this!" She tried a couple more times. "Too hot!" She cried.

"What's too hot?" They both turned to see Mr. Satan standing behind them. "What are you two doing out here with a campfire? You planning to make hotdogs for dinner?"

"No daddy." Videl replied. "Ranma's trying to learn a new technique." She went on to tell him about the Chestnut Fist.

Mr. Satan stroked his mustache in thought. _Maybe if I pull this technique off, I could convince Videl that this gender-bending freak isn't worth her time._ "I'll show you how it's done! Stand aside boy!" He pushed Ranma-Chan out of the way and rolled up his sleeves. "After all, I'm the one who defeated Cell!" He started thrusting his hands into the fire. After a few punches he smelled something different burning. "You guys smell that."

Ranma-Chan raised an eyebrow. "Your hair is on fire, oh great Cell-beater."

"AAAAAHHHHH! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!"

Videl threw the pail of cold water Ranma-Chan had prepared to put out the fire with over her father's head.

"Baka." Ranma-Chan went back to staring at the fire.

After a couple more days, Ranma-Chan was in the dumps about the whole mess. Videl decided it was time to tell Ranma-Chan about her latest purchase. "Ranma! I've got a surprise for you!" She had a playful grin on her face.

Ranma-Chan looked gloomily at her. "What?"

The raven-haired girl led the redhead into the house to a large crate that was sitting in the personal training room (gymnasium). The side of it was labeled, 'Capsule Research and Development Division'. In smaller lettering it said, 'Speed Enhancer'. Videl pulled on a crowbar and the sides of the crate fell away to reveal a seat with a board filled with buttons in front of it. "What do you think?"

"Uh…it's, uh…what is it?"

Videl smiled and plugged the machine in. The buttons on the board began to blink in random sequences. "Just sit down and I'll hook you up." Ranma-Chan sat down and Videl began to hook electrodes to the redhead's body.

"Uh, what are these?"

Videl have a mischievous grin on her face. "Motivation. Now, what you have to do is follow the blinking lights by pressing the lit button. If you miss one, it gives you a tiny jolt. I'll start you on a lower level." She adjusted the settings and hit the start button. "Now press the button that is lit."

Ranma-Chan moved her hands at a good speed and hit all the buttons. "This is easy. How can this help me?"

"Just let me turn up the speed." She turned a dial.

The pigtailed girl started hitting the buttons frantically trying to get the lit ones. Videl turned the dial another notch and Ranma-Chan began to lag behind. Finally she missed one.

BZZZZAT! "OOOOAAAACCCHHH! HOLY $#!^! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

Videl smiled. "That's the motivation. You get faster or you get shocked. We'll have you doing the Amaguriken before you know it."

Ranma-Chan thought for a second, and then she began to laugh. The laugh started getting maniacal as she turned the dial up a notch.

The pigtailed martial artist played with the machine well into the night. Videl finally gave up and went to bed, figuring Ranma would stop before hurting herself. Wouldn't she?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"Slugfest"

Videl opened her eyes at the sight of sunlight filtering in through the curtains of her window. She sat up and stretched smiling at the prospect of another beautiful day. Everything was looking bright until she saw the clock by her bed.

"OH MY GOD! I'M LATE!"

In a blur of motion she was out of her nightclothes and into her school clothes. _I can't believe I overslept! Of course I haven't used an alarm since Ranma moved in._ She fixed her hair and blazed out her door toward Ranma's. _He's woken me up every morning before sunrise! What could have happened to him? _Gruesome images started to run through her head as she picked up the pace.

She threw open her boyfriend's door open. "RANMA!" She looked around the room frantically and found no sign of him. "Where is he?" She thought for a second. Her eyes went wide. "He didn't." She turned around and ran toward the gym where she left him last night.

She heard a steady sound as she got closer. Bzzt…Bzzt…Bzzt… Her face got a questioning look on it. She opened the door.

Inside was Ranma-Chan, still trapped in her cursed female body. The redhead's face was resting on the keyboard. The lights were still blinking away while she dozed the morning away. The machine was still shocking him, but the main capacitors were blown long ago. The board was still sending shocks through the martial artist, but it lacked even enough power to wake sleepy beauty.

Videl shook her head and tsked. "Ranma, Ranma, Ranma."

The redhead snorted in her sleep. "What, what what?" She spoke from beyond her dreams.

The black-haired girl smiled, reached over, and turned the machine off. "My poor Ranma." She knelt down and brushed some hair out of Ranma-Chan's eyes. "You sure are determined."

The sleeping redhead breathed in and smiled. "Have to be the best." She still had not awoken.

"I love you, you knuckle-head."

"I love you too, Videl-Chan."

Videl smiled. "Too bad you can't be this forthcoming when you're awake."

"Sorry."

She nudged the smaller girl. "Wake up, Ranma."

"No."

"WAKE UP!"

"GAAAAAAHHHH!"

The redhead swung her arms around as she fell backwards out of the chair with a loud thud. She rubbed the back of her head and sat up. "What time is it?"

"9:30."

"GAAAAAHHHH! I'M LATE FOR WORK!" In a flash of red hair, Ranma-Chan was gone.

Videl leaned back against the speed machine and crossed her arms. "Good morning Ranma. How are you today? Fine? Oh that's great. I'm doing well myself. Look at the time, you'll be late for work." She shook her head and grinned in amusement.

She walked out and headed toward the front door and waited be the door.

About thirty seconds later, Ranma-Chan came barreling down the hallway. Videl stepped out in front of the redhead and braced herself. The smaller girl hit and fell on her back. "What was that for?"

Videl helped the girl back to her feet. "Why were you asleep at the machine? Why didn't you go to bed?"

Ranma-Chan scratched her head and yawned. "I gotta learn the technique."

"You also need to get some sleep. You can't keep pushing yourself like this. You'll burn yourself out."

"I don't want to be a girl forever! If I learn this technique I'll be fast enough to get the Phoenix pill!"

Videl straightened up Ranma-Chan's hair. "I don't want you to kill yourself. I'll walk you to work. I'm already late for school as it is."

"I'll be fine." Ranma-Chan grumbled as they walked together toward the Nekohanten.

"SAOTOME RANMA PREPARE TO DIE!"

Videl's eyebrow shot up. "Who is it this time?" Her eyes went wide when she saw that toady's attacker was coming right for her. She hopped aside and stuck the oncoming body in the back, imbedding him face first into the nearest wall. "What's the big idea?"

Ranma-Chan was seeing red as she pulled the man's head out of the wall. "Yeah. What's the big idea?" There was a distinct note of menace in her voice.

The boy was wearing white robes and had long black hair going down his back. He pulled himself out of the wall and swung around towards Videl. "You have stolen Shampoo away from me, you fiend."

Videl rapped him on the head. "I'm not Ranma, you retard."

Mousse reached into his robe and pulled out a pair of coke bottle glasses. "Well you looked like a boy."

SMASH!

Mousse was re-implanted into the wall, courtesy of Videl knuckle express.

Ranma-Chan pulled the Chinese boy out of the wall by his hair. "I'm Ranma you blind idiot!"

The Chinese boy poked Ranma-Chan's breasts. "You're not a man. Ranma Saotome is a man."

"And how, you PERVERT!" Ranma-Chan slapped Mousse and sent him back into his impression in the wall.

Videl put her hands on her hips and grinned at Ranma. "You certainly have a way of making friends, Ranma. So how did you make this one mad? Another bread feud, or something worse?"

Ranma-Chan shrugged. "I swear I didn't do nothing to him! I ain't never seen him before!"

The black-haired girl rolled her eyes. "You didn't do ANYHING to him, and you HAVEN'T seen him before."

"That's what I said."

Mousse pried himself from the wall again. "RANMA! Prepare to meet your maker!"

Ranma-Chan shrugged her shoulders. "At least you came up with an original line."

"I'm serious!" He raised his arms and swords came out of his sleeves. "Prepare to die!" He swung the blades at Ranma-Chan's head.

The redhead fell back and rolled backwards. She rolled to her feet. "Okay, so you got a couple swords."

"That's not all I got!" A large naginita appeared out of nowhere. He started swinging the Japanese halberd around trying to cleave the smaller redhead in twain.

Ranma weaved in and out through the slashes. "Careful with that thing! You could hurt someone!"

"THAT'S THE POINT!" He started swinging some more.

A bonbari came flying from the side and knocked the weapon from Mousse's hands.

Ranma and Videl turned to see Shampoo sitting on her bike atop the wall that had the permanent Mousse imprint in it. "Stupid Mousse! Leave Airen alone!"

Mousse threw his arms wide. "SHAMPOO MY LOVE!" GLOMP!

Videl was not happy with the new growth on her chest. "Get…off…of…me."

"We'll never be apart again, Shampoo!"

Ranma-Chan slammed Mousse hard in the side, sending him flying into the wall again. "Get your hands off of her." Her voice was cold and even, promising much bodily harm should he ever touch her girlfriend again.

Shampoo hopped off her bike and landed with her arms around Ranma-Chan. "Nihao! You marry Shampoo, yes? Then Ranma be real man again!"

SLAM!

Shampoo joined Mousse in his imprint on the wall, courtesy Videl's shoulder ram. "I told you once before! Keep your hands off my man!"

"Shampoo!" Mousse wrapped his arms around the purple-haired Amazon.

"Aiyah!" The Amazon elbowed Mousse's face back into the wall. She jumped out of the impression and brushed herself off. "Stupid Mousse! I no love you! I love Ranma!"

Videl put herself between Ranma-Chan and Shampoo. "Not my Ranma."

Shampoo narrowed her eyes. "Is my Ranma."

"Shampoo!" Mousse's arms started to snake around the Amazon warrior.

"No touch Shampoo!" She slapped his hands away. "Only for Ranma!"

Mousse glared at Ranma. "Apparently I'll need to rid myself of you before I can take Shampoo as my bride."

"You want her gift wrapped?" Videl smiled evilly at Shampoo.

"Saotome I challenge you for the hand of Shampoo!"

Ranma-Chan's eyes brightened up. Videl knew that look. "No, Ranma! Don't take the challenge!"

The pigtailed martial artist gave her an imploring look. "But I gotta…it's part of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I have to answer any and all challenges!"

Videl shook her head and leaned into Ranma-Chan's ear. "You could lose this one. It'll get Shampoo off your back…"

The redhead's eyebrows came up. "I'm listening."

"All you have to do is lose." Videl smiled as the look of understanding swept over Ranma-Chan's face. "Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good."

Ranma-Chan stepped forward. "Okay. Let's go!" She dropped into a loose stance.

Mousse smiled a cocky grin and put his hands into the loose sleeves of his white robes. "Then prepare yourself for my ultimate attack! FIST OF THE WHITE SWAN!" In a blur of motion a large object flew at Ranma-Chan's head.

Her instincts kicked in automatically as she put up her hands to intercept it. She blinked when she saw what Mousse had swung at her. "A baby potty?"

It was indeed a training potty shaped like a swan. Ranma-Chan was fuming.

Videl put an arm on her shoulder. "Remember, you're supposed to lose."

The redhead just shook her head. "Sorry. He's too stupid for me to lose to!" She kicked the potty into the air, and, while Mousse watched it fly towards the heavens, Ranma-Chan planted a massive uppercut to his jaw, sending him right after the potty. "That'll teach him."

"Aiyah! Shampoo so happy!" The lavender haired Amazon started to launch into a flying glomp.

Once again Videl stepped between the other two girls. "Back off."

"SAOTOME RANMA PREPARE TO DIE!"

Ranma-Chan looked around. "Again? Is he back already?" She turned around to see a Tanuki staring back at her. "Now what did I ever do to you?"

"Because of you I've seen hell!"

The redhead shook her head. "You sound just like Ryoga, Tanuki-Senin." 

The statue shot up as Ryoga stood to his feet. "I AM RYOGA, AND NOW YOU'LL DIE FOR THE HELL YOU'VE PUT ME THROUGH!" He threw a punch at Ranma-Chan that she easily evaded.

"You'll have to do better than that." She chided him.

The lost boy started chuckling maniacally. "Oh I'll do much better then that. Now witness my newfound power and speed!" He threw the Tanuki statue aside. "Now you'll meet your doom!" He threw a quick three-punch combo at Ranma-Chan.

The redhead just barely got away from all of them in time. _Whoa! He did get much faster!_ She ducked more punches that started coming in even faster. _Man, if it wasn't for all the speed training I've been doing I wouldn't be able to do this._ She started to lose ground. _Okay, time to take him out._ She weaved through Ryoga's punch pattern and landed a solid upper cut into his ribs.

Ryoga stopped and looked at her. "Was that supposed to hurt?"

Ranma-Chan's eyes went wide. The lost boy took advantage of her surprise and punched her across her jaw and sent her flying into Mousse's impression, leaving a new one with a pigtail. She pried herself free and felt something wet trickled down her chin. She dabbed a finger in it and brought it to her face. "Blood?" _No one has made me bleed in ages._ She turned a look of disbelief at Ryoga. Not only had he taken one of her most powerful punches, but he also managed to hurt her! _This female body has GOT to go._

Ryoga was laughing. "What's the matter little girl? Don't you want to fight any more?"

Ranma-Chan wiped the excess blood from her chin and stood back up. "What did you call me?"

"Girl. A whiny, crying little girl. Why don't you go find a nice dress?"

The redhead was furious. "All right you idiot! I've been going easy on you before 'cause I felt sorry for you, but now you're going to pay. I still haven't forgiven you from what you did to Videl's hair." Videl smiled at the last part. "Now you're going to PAY!"

She launched herself at Ryoga, leading with her left foot. The lost boy stepped aside and tried to hammerblow Ranma-Chan as she passed. She brought her extended leg around to kick the blow. She weathered the blow, but the concrete under her started to crack. Ryoga swung his right forward with the intention of kicking the smaller redhead in said tresses. She quickly rolled to her feet, narrowly avoiding the blow. She got to her feet and kicked Ryoga in the gut, again no reaction.

She dodged back as Ryoga threw a haymaker at her head. _How did he get so much stronger and faster? There's no way I got that sloppy. I should be tons faster and stronger after all the training I've been doing._ She leapt over another blow and looked over to where Ryoga had discarded the Tanuki statue. The ground around it was sunk in under the weight and impact of the statue. _He's been training with that on his back? That's even worse than his pack and umbrella._ She narrowly avoided a two punch-kick combo. _Guess there's only one thing to do, but I was saving it for the old ghoul._ "All right, Ryoga. No more Mr. Nice Guy."

The fanged boy snorted. "Don't you mean Ms. Nice Girl?"

Ranma-Chan grit her teeth. "Time to witness my new technique. Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" She unleashed a barrage of blows into Ryoga's mid-section.

Videl's face lit up in pride as she saw him unleash the devastating Amazon attack. "He did it! He actually learned it!"

Shampoo had her hands clasped in front of her chest as she smiled from ear-to-ear. "Of course! Airen is too too clever! Shampoo knew he could learn!"

Ranma-Chan broke off her assault and took a step back. "So have you had enough?"

Ryoga, who was doubled over at the time, began to titter. Then he began to chuckle. Finally it evolved into full-fledged laughter. "You're too weak! You can't hope to harm me!"

The pigtailed martial artist was dumbfounded. _The new technique didn't work? How can a technique I spent all night getting down not work?_ She ducked as Ryoga renewed his assault. _What can I do? Only one thing to do now._ She leapt back and struck a dramatic pose. "Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts final attack!"

Everyone, except Videl, paused and waited for the completion of the move with baited breath.

"RUN AWAY!" Ranma turned and ran down the street. Videl followed close after her.

Ryoga smiled. "You may have been able to hide from me before, but now I can feel where you are." He took off after the fleeing couple at a leisurely pace, completely confident in his ability to defeat the fiend Saotome.

Ranma-Chan ran until she was sure that she had put enough distance between her and the fanged one. She leaned against a wall in a back alley. "What am I going to do?"

"I was wondering the same thing." Videl walked up beside her boyfriend.

The redhead shook her head. "I still can't believe that new attack didn't work! It was supposed to be feared by even the emperors of China!"

The other girl gave her a faint smile. "Maybe it didn't take much to impress them."

Ranma-Chan shook her head. "No. He's been walking all over Kami's Green Earth with that huge Tanuki on his back. He has to be close to twice his original speed and strength. The speed I can handle, it's just all that brute strength. I can't do anything about it!"

Videl frowned. "You're not giving up are you?"

"Of course not. I've just got to think of some way to beat him."

The black-haired girl gave the shorter redhead a peck on the cheek. "I know you'll figure it out. Just think."

Ranma-Chan blushed. "Would you not that when I'm a girl!"

"You're still you, Ranma. Now concentrate."

"All right. I'll con…" Her eyes lit up. "That's it!"

"What?"

"I've got to concentrate my strikes! Right now they're way too wide a punch pattern. If I concentrate them all in one spot, then I can take him."

"Are you sure?"

"You have any better ideas?"

"Not really."

"Then I concentrate." The redhead turned to leave the alley when one of the walls exploded.

Out of the dust cloud thrown up by the debris, Ryoga stepped. "There's no running and hiding anymore, and don't even think about using that poor girl your victimizing behind you as a shield."

"I don't need a shield." The redhead snarled.

"Kiai!" Ryoga yelled as he launched another haymaker.

Ranma-Chan ducked under the blow and yelled her attack again. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" This time she concentrated every blow to Ryoga's chin, hitting it up and back into his skull. The lost boy roared in anger and made another wild swing. The pigtailed martial artist ducked that and the follow-up punches. She weaved and bobbed until she was once again in range. With another shout of the attack's name, she launched another barrage at the same target.

This last round made Ryoga step back. He was stumbling a bit as the world started going blurry around him. "What have you done?"

Ranma-Chan blew some stray hairs out of her eyes. "Knocking you out! Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!"

She landed the last of the blows and Ryoga staggered backward and fought to stay conscious. One more round of chestnut fist and he was out.

Ranma-Chan laughed as Videl rushed over to support her. "I did it!"

Videl smiled at her. "Of course you did."

"You did very well Son-In-Law."

They both turned in surprise to see the Amazon elder Cologne and Shampoo standing in the entrance of the alleyway. "Most impressive." The elder continued. "I see Shampoo made the right decision to marry you. You learned the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken and adapted is quickly. Now why don't you be a nice boy and come back with us. You could have your manhood back and the tribe would be stronger with you at Shampoo's side."

Ranma-Chan stood up and set her jaw. "No way. I ain't going!" Videl nodded her head in agreement. "I'll get that pill from you if it's the last thing I do."

Cologne chuckled. "Very well. Why don't you take the day off, and try again tomorrow?"

Ranma-Chan glanced around and saw a water line that Ryoga had broke when he had come through the wall. It had a slow trickle leaking out, but it wouldn't take much to make the hole larger. "No. I think I'm going to take that pill right now."

The elder's eyes narrowed. "And how do you intend to do that? You're exhausted and injured. You couldn't possibly put up a decent fight right now."

"I'm going to defeat you in combat with Shampoo's help."

"Really…"

Shampoo bounced up and down doing interesting things to her anatomy. "Shampoo happy to help airen!"

The pigtailed martial artist moved over toward the hole and the wall and motioned for Shampoo to follow. She bounced over to him eagerly, much to Videl's dismay. "Just stand right here." He put his hands on her shoulders and moved her in front of the water line. "Just like that." He turned her slightly, not taking his hands off her. He threw a quick snap kick at the water line that sent it gushing, transforming Shampoo into her feline form.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Ranma-Chan screamed in terror, but did not let loose of Shampoo, who was trying her best to get out of his hands.

Cologne and Videl just stood in dumbfounded shock with sweat drops hanging from their brows. The younger shook her head. _This is your great plan? Are you trying to make Cologne laugh at you to death?_

The redhead finally came to a stop and dropped to her knees.

The Amazon matriarch snorted. "Well that was anti-climatic."

"Meeeeooooow." Ranma-Chan slowly mewled. She got up like a cat on her hands and feet. She brought one paw up in a threatening gesture and then pounced!

Cologne dodged aside, barely missing having her head taken off. She dodged down the alley with the redhead in hot pursuit. With a wave of her staff she sent several trashcans flying toward Ranma-Chan. Her energy claws shred them all. Cologne found herself backed against the wall in the back alley. A slash from the redhead above her head told her that jumping away would not be the safest course to take.

Ranma-Chan reared back a claw and slashed across the Amazon's chest, sending the locket with the phoenix pill flying. Videl rushed in and caught the locket. She looked inside and found the pill inside. "Ranma! We got it!"

The cat-human turned to face the black-haired girl. It started stalking forward.

Videl took an uneasy step backwards. "Easy boy! Nice kitty!" She shielded her face as the cat pounced! …and landed in her lap curled into a ball, purring. The stunned girl just scratched Ranma-Chan behind the ears. "Okay…"

Cologne had a strange smile on her face. "Well I'll be. He did it. I never expected the Neko-ken. I thought that horrid art was long forgotten."

Videl looked up and continued to scratch Ranma-Chan behind her ears. "Does this mean you'll give up on him?" She asked hopefully.

"Heh. Not on your life. If anything, this makes him even more valuable. Come along Shampoo, we've lost today." She hopped out of the alley, followed closely by the pink and lavender cat.

"Well this has been a long day, and it's not even lunch time yet." Videl looked down at her purring boyfriend. She suddenly got an idea. "Here kitty, want a treat?" She held out the phoenix pill, which Ranma-Chan ate eagerly. The cat then maneuvered around and kissed Videl on the lips. The girl smiled as enjoyed the contact. _Maybe I should make him go cat more often._ She joked to herself.

She looked into the hole in the wall and saw that it was a restroom that Ryoga had busted through. She picked up Ranma-Chan and carried her inside. She sat the redhead on the floor and turned on the hot water faucet. Neko-Ranma-Chan started walking around her legs on all fours rubbing up against her like a cat that was wanting attention. Once the water got hot enough, Videl cupped her hands and caught a fair amount and threw it on Ranma-Chan.

To Videl's delight, Ranma changed back into his male form. He looked around like he was coming out of a daze. "Where am I?" He looked down at himself. "I DID IT! I'M ME AGAIN!" He grabbed Videl and started spinning her around. "I'm a man again! I'm a man again!" He repeated as he swirled her around.

She reached out and hugged him close. "I'm glad your back, Ranma."

He settled down and put the girl down. "Let's get something to eat. I'm starving!"

Videl felt around Ranma's jaw. "What about your injuries?"

He waved his hand in dismissal. "Don't worry about it. I'll heal up easy from these scratches."

She smiled and looped her arm around his. "Okay. We'll go have a celebration lunch. My treat."

"Thanks."

"So Ranma today you managed to defeat two great fighters and the matriarch of the Amazon tribe. What are you going to do next?"

"I'm going to…take a hot bath."

They both laughed and walked off, with Videl leaning her head on Ranma's shoulder.

A couple hours later, Ryoga came to. His head was still swimming as he stood to his feet. "Still not strong enough. I've got to get even more powerful to defeat Ranma! I'll have to go back to Gohan, and seeing Akane again wouldn't be so bad either." He turned and walked out of the alley, in exactly the opposite direction to go to Nerima.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

"Another Fiancé?"

Tendo Nabiki had NOT been having a good two weeks. A simple day-long train ride to Satan City had turned into a circus of calamity. First, there was the water buffalo on the tracks not ten miles outside of Nerima. She swore that she'd eat more hamburgers if it would prevent that from happening again. She also had that chatterbox old lady that sat on her left the entire trip. She knew more than she EVER wanted to know about this old lady and how it sucked to grow old. If someone else even mentions Alzheimer's around her one more time, she would scream. As if it wasn't bad enough hearing the stories the first time…

Then there was that pleasant stop at the halfway point. Who robs a train in this day and age? Honestly? She barely managed to talk her way out of losing all her money and the clothes she had brought with her. Luckily the cops showed when the train didn't. Of course they took their time about it. She honestly didn't know how she fended the thieves off for a week. That was the last time she was going to be a hostage if she could help it.

And then there was the breakdown at the three hours till arrival. She swore that Kami was out to get her. What had she done to deserve all that? Okay, maybe selling pictures of her sister to lecherous men and running the largest betting pool and extortion ring in Nerima was probably bad in some people's books, but she hadn't really done anything bad, had she?

To top it all off, the showers on the train were broken and she hadn't had a chance to bathe in all that time.

Nabiki shook her head. "I swear, if one more thing happens to me before I see my 'fiancé', I'm going to scream."

Click. "Give me all your money, toots!" A gruff, forceful voice demanded from behind her.

The middle Tendo daughter unleashed the most blood curdling, loud, obnoxious, frustrated scream that had ever been heard on the face of the Earth. The thief had to clear his ears for a second before he could finish the robbery. "Nice set of lungs you got there, but your Yoko Ono karaoke career is going to be pretty short lived if you don't hand over your money now."

Nabiki turned to see the tall, rough looking bandit holding a gun on her. He was about a foot taller than her wearing sunglasses and a bandanna to cover his face from the nose down. She looked around quickly, trying to find something to help her. _Damn! There's nothing I can do! And I worked hard for my money. Maybe I can convince him I'm broke. Lord knows I smell like it._ "But I don't have any money, sir. I'm just a lost teenager trying to find my way home." She gave her best innocent look.

"Then maybe you can pay me in other ways. Heh, heh." He smiled lecherously. He walked around her looking her up and down. "Yeah, I think you'll be real nice." He licked his lips and grabbed her arm. "You're coming with me!"

"Let her go!" Came a shout from behind them.

The robber turned around, hauling Nabiki around with him. "Who're you?" The mugger asked. "Some sort of Boy Scout?"

Nabiki gave her would-be savior a quick once-over. He was tall with a head of black hair done up in a pigtail in the back. He was obviously very strong from the tone that his bare arms shown. He was wearing a red sleeveless shirt with wooden ties on the front, black kung-fu pants, and bronze studded bracers on his forearms. He stood with his arms crossed with a sever expression on his face. _He's pretty cute! Gohan may have the 'little innocent boy' look, but this guy has the rugged man look down to a tee._

"I'm Saotome Ranma of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I'm also one of this city's champions of justice." He uncrossed his arms and cracked his knuckles. "Now, are you going to let the girl go, or am I going to have to get rough on you?"

Nabiki's eyes widen. This was him. This was her fiancé. She couldn't believe her luck. Now all she had to do was get out of this lug's grasp and start getting to know him, good or bad.

The man pulled the Nabiki back to himself and put the gun to her head. "Listen, Boy Scout, either you walk away or this girls brains decorate the walls of this alley."

Ranma took a step forward, a determined look on his face. "You'll never get the chance."

Nabiki had had enough of being a hostage to last a lifetime. She ducked her head and elbowed the guy in the ribs. His eyes went wide as the blow took him by surprise. The pigtailed martial artist didn't miss a beat. In a blur of red and black, the mugger was black and blue. Ranma took the robber's bandanna off his face and used it to tie his hands. He then tied the guy's shoe laces together, both very tightly.

"That should keep him until the police get here." Ranma brushed his hands off. He turned to look at the girl he had just had a hand in rescuing. "You okay? He didn't hurt you or nothin' did he?"

Nabiki smiled a sly grin. _Now to find out how much of a womanizer he really is._ She walked over and hugged him tight, rubbing up against him suggestively. "Oh, thank you!" She gave her best impression of a grateful damsel that had just been rescued by her knight in shiny armor. "I owe you my life! If there's anything I can do to repay you, just ask! And I do mean anything." She smiled a predatory grin. "You don't know what kind of hell I've been through for the past two weeks. You've been the first bright point I've had in a long time."

"Gulp." Ranma swallowed hard. "Uh, it was nothin'. Really! I, uh, really have to be going. I'm just glad you're okay." He quickly wormed out of her grasp and started walking off. "Uh, see you around." He quickly jogged away.

Nabiki stood with one hand on her hip. _He's definitely not a womanizer, and not that particularly evil either. I had a funny feeling that Ryoga was full of it. The boy didn't strike me as the brightest star in the sky. Maybe this entire trip wasn't a waste at all. We'll if I'm going to settle here for a while I'll need a place to stay, but first things first._ She sniffed her shirt. _I need a bath and a change of clothes!_

Up on the rooftop, Videl was tapping her foot with her arms crossed. _Where is he?_ She thought. _We're going to be late for school._

Ranma came up over the edge of the building. "I'm here! I told you I heard someone scream."

She sighed and dropped her arms to her sides. "So what was it?"

"Some girl was about to get mugged. I talked the guy out of it." He smiled his trademark grin.

A shift in the wind sent a putrid stench across Videl's nostrils. "Pee-ew! What did you do? You smell like you haven't bathed in a week!"

Ranma sniffed himself. "I coulda swore I took a bath this morning. And that crazy maid won't let me have any dirty clothes." He thought for a second. _Must a been that girl. I guess it smells like she's been through hell. Wonder how she's doing?_

The daughter of Satan shook her head. "Come on, Ranma. We can miss the first half of class today to get you changed, but next time wait until after school before you decide to rescue zoo animals."

"Actually, it was a girl who had been having a lousy couple weeks." He turned to go toward the mansion. When Videl didn't move he turned back. "You coming?"

Videl had her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. "A rough couple of weeks, huh? What did she look like?"

Ranma scratched his head. "A little shorter than me, brown hair…"

"Did her clothes look like they had been worn for a while?"

Alarms went off in the back of Ranma's head, but, being the man that he is, he had no clue what they were for. "Now that you mention it, they did look wrinkled."

"Grrrr." Videl growled. "She hugged you, didn't she?"

"How'd you know?" He blinked as he realized what he had just admitted. He waved his hands in front of himself. "It's not as if I like her or anything! She was just grateful!"

One of her eyebrows went up. "That sounds believable. I just don't like other women pawing you."

"NIHAO!" GLOMP!

Videl glared. "Case in point."

"Airen! You take Shampoo to date, yes?" The lavender haired Amazon hugged tightly to Ranma as he tried to peel her off of himself.

"Get offa me! I told'ja I ain't your husband!" He continued to break the Amazon death grip of love.

Shampoo sniffed the air. "Aiya! Did tomboy girl let fart? Tell truth now!"

Videl stomped over to where the couple was tangled up. "I did NOT FART! And how many times have I told you to KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY MAN!" She hauled back and punched Shampoo off the building. "And don't come back!" She huffed after the departed Amazon. She turned and grabbed her boyfriend by the arm and drug him in the direction of her home. "Let's get you changed and see if we can't avoid any more close encounters of the Amazon kind for the rest of the day."

They managed to get home and back to school in time to make their second set of classes. They were surprised to see a new student standing in front of the class. She was wearing a blue and white uniform dress, and had short brown hair that came to about to chin length around her head, but had bangs cut up just above her eyes. Videl and Ranma walked in right at the beginning of her introduction.

The teacher raised an eyebrow. "Fighting crime early today, are we?"

"Yeah." Ranma replied.

"I hope you're not using your status as champions of justice as an excuse to stay home and fool around." He gazed at them evenly.

Videl latched onto Ranma's arm. "Oh, he found us out, Ranma!"

Ranma's face went beet red and his eyes bugged out. "We didn't do nothin' like that!" He had his hands flailing in warding gestures.

Videl rapped him on the head. "I'm only kidding. Let's get to our seat and find out about this new girl.

Ranma looked at her. "Hey, you look familiar."

Nabiki had a smug grin on her face. _Definitely not an evil womanizer, and it looks like he and his girlfriend haven't done anything serious yet. There may be some room here. _ "Try picturing me wearing a two week old jeans and blouse combination."

"You're that girl I rescued this morning!" He stated the obvious.

She winked at him. "Bingo."

The teacher cleared his throat. "Videl, Ranma, if you two will take your seats, I can finish introducing the new student." The two quickly complied and literally hopped to their seats. "I wish you two would stop doing that, but anyway…Class this is the new student Tendo Nabiki…"

Ranma's eye started to twitch. "Tendo?"

"She just recently hailed from Nerima where she went to Furinkan High School…"

"Nerima?" A chill went up Ranma's spine.

Ireeza noticed Ranma was not being himself. "Something wrong, dreamboat?"

Ranma's pigtail was standing upright. "Nothing's wrong." He laughed nervously. "What makes you think there's something wrong?"

"Well," the blonde leaned in close. "This is the first time I've ever seen you sweat."

"Heh, heh, heh. Nothing's wrong. Really!" His voice had a sick desperation to it.

"Ooookaaaay." Ireeza turned back to the teacher would was continuing the introduction.

"Even though she's a year older, she chose to join this class to make up for our more modern curriculum."

Nabiki looked over the class and then at herself. "I wish I would have known this school didn't require uniforms."

The teacher rolled his eyes. "It does, just no one seems to listen. We couldn't send the WHOLE class to the hall, could we? Why don't you grab the seat behind Videl and Shyapuna? As soon as you're seated we'll begin class."

Nabiki nodded her head and took the seat. As the teacher began to teach something she had already heard once before, she started to tune into the other conversations around the room.

"Come on, Videl! You've got to help me with Ranma's sister!" Shyapuna was whispering to an annoyed Videl.

_Sister?_ Nabiki thought. _Dad and Mr. Saotome never mentioned anything about a sister._ She looked over at Ranma, who was fast asleep behind a strategically placed textbook. The blonde beside him was looking him up and down like he was the main course at her dinner table. _Looks like I'm not the only one here window shopping. I guess he's pretty popular._

"For the last time, Shyapuna," Videl's voice had a note of weariness to it. "Pan's not interested in you."

Nabiki paid attention to that and other conversations in the room. She also paid close attention to who was paying attention to whom. _Looks like there's some money to be made here. I think I could get used to this._

At lunchtime, Nabiki watched Ranma tear through his lunch like a whirlwind as he girlfriend just shook her head and sighed. _I'd approach him, but Videl never leaves his side. It's like they're glued together or something._

Just then a purple blur hopped over the wall and collided with Ranma. The dust settled and there was a very curvaceous girl with long lavender hair wearing a too short red Chinese dress sitting on Ranma's lap holding a takeout box in one hand.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow. _Very friendly Chinese delivery girls they have in this city._

"Nihao Airen! Shampoo bring you too too delicious lunch!" She presented the box to the raven-haired boy who was still reeling from the impact of her arrival.

"All right, you Chinese hussy!" Videl put down the remains of her lunch. "You, me, now!" She launched herself at the Amazon, fists at her sides.

The two began to battle back and forth. It was obvious that Shampoo had been training more, but so had Videl. Ranma was so rapt in watching his student/girlfriend fight that he didn't even notice the girl sitting down next to him.

"Hello, Saotome." Nabiki tried out her most winning smile.

Ranma slowed turned to Nabiki. "Yo, Nabiki. Uh, how you doing?"

She settled back and smiled at Ranma. "I'm doing all right. I was just thinking about honor. What does honor mean to you?"

"It means everything to me." Ranma answered immediately.

"Good." Nabiki purred. "What do you know about an agreement between your family and mine?"

"Heh, heh." Ranma started to sweat. "Uh, I, uh really don't know what you're talking about." He put on his best nervous smile.

Nabiki smiled wider. "Oh, I think you do. Otherwise you wouldn't be sweating bullets right now."

"Well, I, er, that is…oh crap." He took a deep breath. "Let me guess, you're my new fiancé."

"You got it." She chuckled.

Ranma's face dropped into his hands. "Oh, man."

"It could be worse." He turned to look at her. "You could be engaged to my mallet wielding sister. Trust me, you're a lot better off. She probably have hammered you into the ground and called you a pervert for letting two girls hang all over you."

"She doesn't sound like a very nice person." Ranma commented. He suddenly had a sharp, but brief, headache for some reason.

"She just needs a durable man, that's all. Luckily, she found one." She narrowed her eyes. "I've got my eyes set on a more 'down to Earth' man." She chuckled a bit at her inside joke.

Ranma was sweating bullets again. "Listen, can't we call this off? I mean, uh,…I'm already engaged to Videl." He finally remembered his and Videl's anti-Amazon defense system.

"Then why was that Amazon calling you husband?" She asked with a smug grin on her face.

Ranma frowned. "It's just a stupid Amazon law. If a male outsider defeats an Amazon, she has to marry him. I keep telling her that her laws don't apply here, but she won't believe me."

"So why are you engaged to Videl?" She asked off-handedly.

"Because I like her a lot." He answered. He still had some difficulty saying he loved her.

Nabiki had a 'cat that got the canary' grin on her face. "So, you disregard two countries' honor so you can marry a girl you 'like'?"

Ranma buried his face in his hands again. "Come on! You can't be serious!" He looked at her again and saw the confident look on her face. "You are, aren't you?" He shook his head.

"Saotome! Prepare to die!" A dozen chained spikes flew down on his position.

Ranma quickly scooped up Nabiki and jumped out of the way in the nick of time. He turned to face Mousse. "HEY! You could have hurt an innocent bystander, idiot!"

"Not only do you steal my Shampoo, but you seek to add yet another woman to your harem." Mousse pulled out a pair of steel cats claws. "You unfaithful scoundrel! For that you shall pay!" He charged in, claws forward.

Ranma threw Nabiki into the air, startling her. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" He quickly shredded the cat's claws with the Chestnuts Roasting Over an Open Fire technique and kicked Mousse over the school perimeter wall. He finished just in time for Nabiki to fall back into his arms. "Stupid moron! Doesn't he know he can't beat me?"

"Very popular guy, aren't you?" Nabiki grinned and put her arms around his neck.

Finally realizing he was still holding her, Ranma put Nabiki back down on her feet and took two steps away. "Listen, isn't there something we can work out?"

"I'll think about it." Nabiki pondered a second. She still had some money to make while she was here. "But first, tell me about your sister."

Sweat beaded up on Ranma's head. "Uh, she's okay. She's a real good fighter."

Nabiki's eyes narrowed. "I was actually wondering how to get a hold of her."

"Well, she kinda pops up every now and then. I'm hoping she won't visit for a while…"

"Why's that?"

"She can come in at some of the worst times…"

At that moment a heavy fist on flesh sound could be heard and Shampoo joined Mousse's flying circus. Videl wiped a trickle of blood off the side of her mouth and spit out the rest. "Damn floozy won't leave MY Ranma alone." She turned around to see Ranma talking to Nabiki. She strode up quickly and grabbed Ranma's hand possessively. "Hello, Nabiki was it?"

The brown-haired mercenary smirked at that female version of territorial pissing. "Yes, and you must be Videl. My sister is a big fan of yours."

"Really." Videl deadpanned. "So what were you two talking about?"

Nabiki waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing, really. Just family business."

"Are you two related?"

"Not really, but we could be." Nabiki eyed Ranma.

Videl didn't miss the gaze. She slid in front of Ranma. "Listen, sister, Ranma's mine. I don't know what your game is, but you can't have him."

"Too late, 'sister'." Nabiki decided to go for the kill. If it didn't work, she could use it for blackmail material. "Ranma's my fiancé, by an agreement between our families. Honor must be satisfied, right Ranma?"

He gulped continued to sweat.

"Listen, he's living with me because of honor too!" Videl got in Nabiki's face. "He's going to live with me until I'm as good a fighter as he is! That's the agreement."

"What kind of binding agreement is that? He just agreed to train you?"

"He lost a bet and now he has to abide by the conditions of the wager."

"You're putting my family honor above a petty bet? You've got to be kidding me!"

"HOLD IT!"

Both the girls stopped and turned to Ranma. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. He turned to Nabiki. "Do you have the ability to call off the engagement?"

Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"What if you found me, uh…What if you found out there was something wrong with me, and you didn't want to marry me?" He tried his hardest to pick his words carefully.

The middle Tendo narrowed her eyes. "Go on."

"Follow me." His shoulders seemed to slump as he walked over to the closest water fountain. He took a quick look around to make sure no one was looking and turned the water on his face, transforming him into a shorter, bustier redhead. "What if I was a freak?"

Nabiki's eyes went wide for a second and then went back to her calculating look. She saw some definite money making material here. "So, like father, like son. I guess I've just met your 'sister', am I right?"

Ranma-Chan nodded her head. "How did you know about pops?"

"I watched him turn into a panda when our dads were talking about him staying at our place." She smiled as she thought how things might have ended up if she hadn't seen his father transform. She probably would have dumped the engagement right then and there and went home, to most likely dump the engagement on one of her other sisters. But, since she had known that something like this was possible, she could see the man that was still there, and the money that such a figure could bring in.

"So pops is freeloading off you guys now, huh? You might want to go home and kick him out before he eats you out of house and home." Ranma-Chan smirked.

"Naw, he and daddy are too close. They agreed to marry their kids, didn't they?" She stated the obvious. "Besides, aren't you freeloading off of Videl?"

Videl's face screwed up with anger. "He's training me! He's NOT freeloading!"

Ranma just blinked as his girlfriend defended him.

The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Ranma quickly doused himself with the hot water in the thermos he still carried, despite not needing to hide as a girl at the Satan estate, and they all went back to class.

After school Ranma and Videl made every effort to get out of the class without attracting the attention of any more fiancés, and went home checking over their shoulder for any followers the whole way. Too bad Nabiki had already done her homework and knew where the Satan Estate was. She just decided that she wouldn't go there first. She knew of Mr. Satan's gym that he trained his students at in town. She was just surprised when she saw Shyapuna making his way there as she was.

"Hello. You're in my class, aren't you?" She said it as more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah. I'm just coming here to train with Mr. Satan." He smiled. "I'm going to defeat Ranma if it's the last thing I do."

Her eyes narrowed. "So why do you want to beat him?"

"So he'll let me date his sister!" He smiled a goofy grin.

Yen signs played around in Nabiki's head. _Hello Kuno all over again! Cha-Ching! Hope this poor slob has some money._ "What would you think if I told you I could probably get pictures of his sister for you?"

"I'd think you were a god-send!"

_Now to go for the kill._ She had her sly, another-sucker-born-every-minute grin. "Okay, 1000 yen apiece upon delivery. Deal?"

He shook his head. "I can't afford that much!"

_Damn. Plan B._ "Okay. I'll knock some off the price if you'll get me in to meet Mr. Satan."

"How much?"

"Half."

"Now you have a deal!" He smiled and led her into the gym. They threaded through the security guards who knew to let Shyapuna in. He just had to explain that he was bringing a girl in to watch the training. They finally made their way to the workout room where Mr. Satan was bench-pressing around four times his weight.

The skills that served Nabiki so well at her old high school kicked into full gear. _Hmmm…He's definitely strong, but he doesn't have the look of being strong-minded. He'll most likely be easy to manipulate. So this is the guy that defeated Cell, huh. He doesn't give off as much energy as Gohan. I don't see how he could be stronger than my sister's fiancé. _After he had reracked the bar, she walked up and bowed to him. "Hello, Mr. Satan. My name is Tendo Nabiki. I'm here to talk to you about Saotome Ranma."

"So do you want to date him? It'd would be great if you could get him out of my hair!" The older man chuckled.

She noticed how protective he was concerning his daughter. Even though he had a light laugh, a serious concern was conveyed by his body language. "Actually, I'm engaged to him by agreement of our fathers. I just need some help from you." She smirked.

He scratched his head. "So what can I do for you?"

"I need a place to stay while I'm in town. If you could put me up at your place, it would go well towards me winning Ranma away from your daughter." She knew she had him.

He thought for a second, and then a broad smile crossed his face. "I'd be glad to do it! Woe be it for me to come between two fiancés!"

Nabiki smiled a smug grin at the older man. _The people around here are even easier to manipulate here than they are at home. I think I could get to like this place._


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

"Enter the Cute Fiancé!"

Ranma was not having a good week. His total was already up to one wife by Amazon law, one fiancé by family agreement, one girl that looked at him like a piece of meat, and finally the girl he liked…and it was only Tuesday.

At this moment he was walking to school. That's right, WALKING! He wasn't leaping from rooftop to rooftop, or running at top speeds. He wasn't even skipping, for goodness sake! He was walking in deference to his latest roomie. He turned to see Tendo Nabiki walking beside him at a measured pace. She was on his left while Videl walked on his right, holding his hand possessively.

Ranma was wearing a new set of clothes Videl had bought him the day after Ryoga had attacked last. His Chinese style shirt looked like his old shirts, but weighed around fifty pounds. His bracers weighed around twenty-five pounds apiece. They were almost solid high-carbon steel. The pigtailed martial artist had contemplating trying to use them to block bullets. His footwear was new as well. They were high-topped thin shoes that looked vaguely like wrestling shoes, but weighed another twenty pounds per foot. In fact this was the same outfit he was wearing when he rescued Nabiki.

Speaking of the middle Tendo daughter, she had forgone her usual school uniform for a white blouse and jeans combo. "When in Rome, do as the Romans." She had said. She didn't like those dresses anyway.

Videl, on the other hand, was wearing a weighted outfit like Ranma. She still had on an orange oversized t-shirt, but she also had on a vest that weighed forty pounds along with wristbands that weighed fifteen pounds apiece. She had on shoes that matched Ranma's. She had elected for less weight, because Ranma had become stronger a lot faster than she had. It was amazing how fast he had taken to moving around in the weighted clothing. He would need heavier clothes fairly soon.

She looked passed Ranma and glared at the other girl. "Can't you walk any faster? We're going to be late for school!"

Nabiki didn't bat an eyelash. "Well, we'd be there already if you'd just pop out your helicopter."

"Well, It only seats two, and if we took that it would be Ranma and ME!" She went from holding his hand to hanging on his arm. "Plus, it couldn't carry us with our weighted clothing."

"Ranma would never let his RIGHTFUL fiancé walk alone. Anything could happen to a poor defenseless girl like me." She gave her best helpless puppy look and took Ranma's other arm.

Ranma rolled his eyes and looked up to the heavens. _Kami, what did I ever do to deserve this?_ "Listen girls! Can't we hold off on the fighting? I'd like to get to school." _And get some sleep._ He added in his mind.

Nabiki considered him for a moment. _Could he actually have a brain for school in that martial arts head?_ She leaned a little closer. "So have you thought about where you want to go to college?"

"Uh, not really." Ranma would have scratched the back of his head, if his arms weren't incapacitated. "I really haven't seriously thought much about what I want to do after high school. Have you, Videl?"

_Get married to you, have kids, grow old together…_ "No, not really." She smiled innocently.

An unexplainable chill went down Ranma's back, but he dismissed it as paranoia. "Anyways, I thought about starting a dojo and teach my art. Pops said that was what he wanted me to do when I grew up, but I don't know if I want to do anything that stupid panda would ever suggest."

"Don't blame you there." Nabiki said aside.

Videl gave him a questioning glance. "Panda? Why did you call him that?"

"You know how I change into a girl?"

"Yeah?"

"He turns into a panda."

Videl thought for a second. "Does he have a tendency to talk with signs when he's a panda?"

"Yeah, why?" Ranma's brow furrowed as he looks as his girlfriend.

"I think I've already met your pops. You're right, I wouldn't trust him either. He was using his panda form to beg for handouts at the park."

"Yup, that's pops. So you've met my father, I hope my mother is better." He looked to the sky wistfully.

Nabiki gave him a serious glance. "Don't you know who your mom is?"

"He left when he was young and he can't remember his mother." Videl said sadly.

"How sad." Wheels began turning in Nabiki's mind. She suddenly knew how to get Ranma to owe her. Now all she had to do was find the woman.

"Hey guys! Still walking like me?"

They all turned to see Ireeza striding up, wearing jeans and a tube top. She gave Ranma a winning smile. "Hey, dreamboat!"

"Grrrr…" Videl growled at her former best friend.

"Down girl!" Nabiki teased.

Videl tensed up to hurt Nabiki, but Ranma put his arm around her quickly. "I told you, you can't fight someone weaker than you. You'd just be bullying her."

She stared daggers at the Tendo girl. "But it would make me feel sooo much better."

Ireeza just fell into step beside Videl. "So how long do you plan to walk to school? Don't you two usually fly in one form or another."

Videl thumbed over at Nabiki. "If SOMEONE wasn't tagging along, we'd be rooftop hopping."

"Too bad." The blonde falsely sympathized. She quietly enjoyed being able to spend more time with Ranma outside of class. She had been meeting them along the way ever since the day after Nabiki had first shown up. She had seen the trio walking to school that day and had fallen into the pattern ever since.

Ranma just glared at the heavens. _You hate me, don't you? _ He shouted mentally.

_Most men wouldn't complain._

Ranma started. He turned to Videl. "Did you say something?"

"No."

"Did you say something?" He turned toward Nabiki.

"No, why?"

Ranma shook his head. "Never mind." _Great. Now I'm going crazy. What else could go wrong?_

"Nihao!"

Ranma found his face planted into the pavement by bicycle tire. Atop the bike was a way too cheerful for the early morning Amazon. "Nihao, Airen. Is beautiful day, yes? You take Shampoo to date!"

All three of the other girls growled at the Amazon, who was still pedaling on top of Ranma's head.

From the shadows, a pair of eyes watched the martial artist and his quartet of women. The figure absently gripped their weapon. _Saotome, you enemy of women. Leading all those girls on at the same time. I'll be doing the world a favor by ridding it of you!_

Ranma got out from under the tire and glared at Shampoo. "For the LAST TIME! I'M NOT YOUR HUSBAND, AND NEVER WILL BE!"

Shampoo smiled vacantly. "You find out soon enough that Shampoo make good wife!"

"Hussy." Nabiki and Videl commented simultaneously. They appraised each other with a raised eyebrow.

"PREPARE TO DIE YOU ENEMY OF WOMEN!"

Ranma saw the figure flying through the air and then looked around trying to figure out who they were talking about. He stepped aside in time to see a giant spatula imbedded in the concrete beside him. He looked confusedly at the boy seething in anger in front of him. "Who are you talking about?"

"DIE!" The boy took another swing at him.

Ranma easily weaved in and out of the blows. "Would you please tell me what this is all about?"

"Fine! Do I have to spell it out for you!" The boy sat down, pulled out portable grill, and poured out some batter. He flipped the flat piece of dough and added ingredients. After a final pouring of sauce, the boy flipped his spatula and sent the Japanese pizza into Ranma's face.

The pigtailed martial artist caught it in his mouth. He flipped it up with his lower lip and read the kanji written in sauce. It said, 'I challenge you to a duel to the death!' He shrugged and ate the small snack.

When it hit his palate, he paused. His head cocked to the side. "I know that sauce!" He finally announced.

The boy in the purple chef's outfit crossed his arms over his chest. "So now you remember! Do you remember about the agreement?"

Ranma thought for a second. He snapped his fingers. "I defeat you, and I get a free meal! Yeah! Okonomiyaki Ucchan!" He walked up and slapped the other boy on the shoulder. "How have you been buddy? I haven't seen you since we were five! This is great!"

Videl was just watching the scene play out with her mouth hanging open. "This guy tries to kill you, and he's your friend?" Ukyou gave Videl a glare when she said, 'guy'.

Ranma gave Ukyou another friendly slap on the back. "You bet! We were the best friends!"

The chestnut haired chef glared at Ranma. "No we're NOT! Don't you remember the other agreement?"

He looked confused again. "No."

"Try thinking back to the day you left?"

"I remember that you were crying and chasing us the whole time that we were leaving." He pictured a younger self waving goodbye to little Ukyou.

"Try remembering a little lower and forward." The chef deadpanned.

His brain shifted forward and he saw his father with a mouth full of dough pulling along Ukyou's father's okonomiyaki cart. "Uh, what was pops doing with your family's cart?"

"You two left me beside the side of the road." She growled into the ground.

"So why did they do that?" Videl stepped up beside Ukyou. "Were you supposed to go with him?"

Ranma looked at Ukyou with a perpetual confused look on his face. "Yeah, I know we were good friends and all, but why were you supposed to come with us, and why did pops have your cart?"

Shampoo shook her head. "Shampoo have no time to talk about chef-man. Shampoo need get deliveries done. See Airen later, yes?" She tried to approach for a kiss goodbye, but Videl kept her line of sight to Ranma blocked, so she left without further protest, glaring daggers at Videl the whole time.

Ukyou tensed at the 'man' remark.

Ireeza looked at her watch. "And I'm going to late for class. You had probably come too, Nabiki. Unlike the 'champions of justice' here, we don't get a free pass to miss school."

The Tendo girl nodded in agreement. "As much as I would like to see this play out, I'd really rather not get detention this early in the semester." She turned to Ranma. "Promise to tell me everything later?" Ranma shrugged non-committedly. "I'll find out one way or another. See you later, mister." She directed the last at Ukyou whose hackles started to rise.

Ireeza turned to the chef. "Yeah, later handsome." They both turned and finished their walk to school.

Steam was starting to rise from Ukyou's head.

Videl shook her head. "Anyways…Why was a man like you supposed to come with Ranma? Was his dad supposed to train you too?"

"THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT!" The okonomiyaki chef whipped out his battle spatula and swung it toward Videl.

The blow never made it as Ranma blocked it with his bracer. "Hey, Uchhan. We may have been friends before, but if you do anything to Videl, I'm going to hurt you." His voice was even, but his face threatened murder.

"Just fight me!" The chef pulled back and swung again and again, ad nauseum.

Ranma just weaved in and out of all the blows. He occasionally lightly punched the spatula away to keep the distance between himself and the chef the same. "Can't we let bygones be bygones? We were best friends!"

Ukyou was fuming. "Take me SERIOUSLY!"

"Can't we talk about this?"

The chef stopped and stepped back in a guarded stance. _Maybe if I act like I'm going to swing at one of his harem, he'll take me seriously._ "Well, since you don't really want to fight, maybe one of your harem will, since you're not man enough to face me!" He stepped toward Videl with his weapon raised. He came down in an arc that would miss Videl by a mile.

The pigtailed martial artist caught the spatula in mid-swing. "I told you not to do anything to her!" He kicked Ukyou in the stomach while still holding it, sending him flying away weaponless. The chef landed on his back and used his still considerable momentum to roll back to his feet. He reached into his bandolier and pulled out several mini-spatulas and threw them at the pair. Ranma managed to deflect them all with his bracers, but had dropped the combat spatula in the process. Ukyou dove in and recovered the weapon. He started taking viscous swipes at the raven-haired boy.

When one of the chef's swipes came close to Videl, Ranma had had enough. "Gimme that!" He grabbed the giant spatula and started swinging at Ucchan. An upward slice went through Ukyou's shirt.

Ukyou felt a breeze and reached for the open shirt. "Hold on!"

"Why should I?" He took another swing.

"Ranchan, stop!" The chef held up a free hand.

"Don't call me that!"

Ukyou threw a bag of flour in his face. "Stop it, you jackass!" The chef managed to kick the spatula out of Ranma's hands while he coughed in the cloud of flour.

Ranma growled and lunged at Ukyou. "I'll show you!" He grabbed the chef from behind and his hands gripped two very soft and supple mounds of flesh that do not belong on the male anatomy. "Urk!" The cloud of flour cleared to show Ranma holding Ukyou's breasts.

"Ukyou's a girl!" Videl exclaimed.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Ukyou grumbled.

"Let go of her!" Videl yelled, a hint of irritation in her voice.

Ranma realized what he was still holding. "Ack!" He quickly pulled his hands away and jumped about ten feet away. Ukyou pulled her shirt closed the best she could with her wraps gone. "H-How l-long?"

Ukyou looked at him with a sad glare. "Have I been a girl? All my life, stupid."

"Hold on a sec." He reached into his school bag, pulled out his thermos, and dumped it on Ukyou's head.

"Ouch! What did you do that for, you jackass!" She yelled at him crossly.

Videl stepped up between the two before anything could escalate. She leaned up against Ranma and looked at the chef. "So what is this all about? Did his idiot father steal your family's cart?"

"Wouldn't surprise me." Ranma snorted.

Ukyou glared at Ranma. "The cart was a dowry. Ranma and I were engaged for marriage."

Videl smacked her forehead and fell back into Ranma, who caught her easily. "Not another one…"

"Another one?" Ukyou gave her a questioning glance.

The pigtailed martial artist rolled his eyes. "That idiot father of mine engaged me to you and Nabiki. I have a feeling you two aren't the only ones."

"Don't forget Shampoo." Videl ribbed him.

He slapped his forehead. "Don't remind me."

"What's going on here?" A very puzzled Ukyou asked.

Ranma took a deep breath. He motioned to Videl. "Ucchan, this is Videl, my g-girlfriend. We met a couple months ago, and I'm training her to be as good as me."

"We've been through a lot together." She kissed him quickly. He blushed bright red.

Ukyou's eyebrow twitched. "So who were all those other girls?" She took a moment to rearrange her clothes in a wearable fashion.

Ranma took a deep breath. "It's a long story, but you might as well hear it. Where should I start?"

The chef crossed her arms, still not entirely convinced that Ranma was totally innocent. "Start with the bimbo on the bike."

"The one on the bike was Shampoo. She's a Chinese Amazon that I defeated in combat and, because of that stupid law of theirs, she thinks she's my fiancé." Ranma shook his head.

"What about the blonde?" The chef asked.

"She's one of my classmates that has a crush on Ranma." Videl answered this one. "She's been stealing my boyfriends since we were little. I'm doing my damnedest to make sure she doesn't take this one." She smiled up at Ranma, who flushed again.

"And the girl with the bowl cut?"

"That's Nabiki." Ranma replied. "Her father and pops used to train together under their master. They made a pact to unite their families when their children were old enough."

Videl muttered a few choice words about the woman and what she really thought of her.

"And so now you just string them all along like a Don Juan!" Ukyou concluded.

Ranma held up his hands in warding gestures, inadvertently sending Videl stumbling to the side. "It's nothin' like that! I've been trying to get rid of 'em, but they just won't listen! And with Nabiki, it's a matter of family honor! I still haven't figured out how to get out of that one!"

Videl regained her balance and crossed her arms. "Plus my daddy let her move into our place. He's trying to break Ranma and I up."

Ukyou hefted her combat spatula. "Well, I still have to take you out for ruining me for marriage!"

Ranma lifted an eyebrow. "Why are you ruined?"

"Because of you I couldn't be a woman anymore! You rejected me and everyone thought that I wasn't worth anything because I was dumped by my fiancé when I was little!"

"I didn't dump you!" Ranma defended himself. "I didn't know we were engaged! Hell, I didn't even know you were a girl!" Her eyebrow twitched again. He smiled. "Besides, you're actually pretty cute. You'd make a great wife. I don't see why you'd have any trouble getting a husband."

Ukyou stopped as she was about to bring her giant spatula to bear. It dropped out of her hands. "W-what did you say?"

Videl smiled. "He said you're cute, and I agree with him. You could have any man you wanted. Except for Ranma of course." She took Ranma by the arm, and he had just got his regular color back from blushing before.

Ukyou stood stock still as she remembered the first person to call her cute. The other two opinions here helped reinforce what he had said. She began to think about him and blush. "Y-you mean that?"

The daughter of Satan got a sly grin on her face. "You've got somebody else in mind, don't you?" The chef turned even brighter red.

"That's great!" Ranma exclaimed. "You should go after him!" He was proud of himself for thinking of a statement that would get rid of at least ONE fiancé.

"B-but I don't know. What about our betrothal?" She sputtered.

Ranma slapped her on the back. "Hey, we can let bygones be bygones and forget the whole thing. I don't want to marry you, and you don't want to marry me. I just want my buddy back."

She looked up at him. "You mean you still want to be friends after I've tried to kill you?"

"Ranma's special like that." Videl smiled at her boyfriend. He wondered if he'd ever get his skin to any other color besides red in this conversation. "Besides, it was all that stupid panda's fault anyway. Ranma didn't know anything about your marriage. I think that we can all be friends."

The chef gave her a hard look. "Did you say, 'panda'?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Is he about six feet tall, fat, and have a tendency to walk around on two legs?"

"That's pops." Ranma rolled his eyes. "He's camping out over at the Tendo's waiting for me to change my mind and marry Nabiki."

"How can that be your father?" Ukyou asked.

Ranma sighed. "I might as well show you. Videl, do you have your spare thermos?" She nodded. Ranma motioned Ukyou to follow him to a nearby water fountain. He splashed himself and transformed into Ranma-Chan. After bringing a dazed Ukyou back to the conscious world, he explained about Jusenkyo

Quite a few pieces began to fall in the puzzle for Ukyou. She then had another thought. "You said you and her dad used to train together. Was there anyone else they trained with?"

Ranma scratched his head. "Not that I know of. Pops, Mr. Tendo, and I are the only practitioners of Anything Goes Martial Arts." Videl coughed. "And Videl of course."

"Nobody named Son?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Never heard of him."

A large smile crept across Ukyou's face. "I think I will go after the man I'm thinking about."

Ranma smiled. He had succeeded in getting rid of one fiancé! _Ha! Take that Kami!_

_I can make more you know…_

Ranma looked around frantically, but found no one around that should have a voice like that. _What the heck?_ And shook his head and went on. "So can we still be friends?"

Ukyou smiled a pleasant grin and nodded. "I guess it won't be so bad to have my friend Ranchan back."

"I'm glad you're back Ucchan." He smiled back.

Videl stepped up and offered her hand to the chef. "I'd like to be friends too. Any friend of Ranma's is a friend of mine."

Ukyou took the hand and shook it. "I'd like that."

"Yeah, you can just call her Vichan." Ranma chided.

The raven-haired girl turned to him. "You don't even call me that, 'Rannchan'."

"How about now, Vichan?" She rolled her eyes.

Ukyou laughed at the antics of the couple. "Well, I guess I'd better get going then. I guess I got a man to catch."

Videl took the other girl by the arm and started to lead her into town. "How about your new friend gives you a little help?"

"Like what?" The chef replied with honest confusion in her voice.

"Maybe a new outfit, and a new hairstyle. You'll be able to knock him dead with your looks instead of just knocking him about a bit." The two girls giggled.

"I don't want to go clothes shopping again!" Ranma whined. He remembered the last time he had gone clothes shopping with his girlfriend. She always took to long and made every opportunity to embarrass him. She even took his to a lingerie store!

Videl turned and patted him on the chest. "Don't worry, Ranchan. This shopping trip is just for us girls. You can go to school."

"How am I going to explain that I'm there and you're not? They know I'd never let you face any danger alone."

"That's so sweet!" Ukyou ribbed Ranma, who was blushing once again.

Videl threw up her hands. "Fine! You can go home and train! Beat up daddy if you want. I don't care."

Ranma was gone in a flash.

Ukyou blinked. "Wow. I never knew Ranchan was so fast."

"One, he's skipping school." Videl started ticking of numbers with her fingers. "Two, he's going to go training. Three, he got out of shopping with me. Right now he's one of the happiest men on Earth. All he needs now is a good fight, and he'll be in heaven."

"That's Ranchan." Ukyou laughed. "Shall we go Vichan?"

"Sure, Ucchan. We'll get you ready to go capture you a husband." 'Vichan smiled. "He won't know what hit him."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

"Spring Came Early This Year"

The morning dawned bright and clear in Satan City, much to the relief of its latest traveler. The brown-haired boy walked down the street mumbling to himself. "I'll never be a pig again!" He repeated ad nauseum.

"Yo! Ryoga! How goes it?"

The lost boy nearly jumped out of his pants…and Tanuki statue…and large steel plate. He turned to see a certain redhead with a wide smile on her face. "Ranma! How dare you sneak up on me like that?"

"Just havin' fun!" Her smile went wider.

Ryoga scratch his head. "What are you doing as a girl?"

Ranma-Chan rolled her eyes. "Some old lady hit me with a ladle of water on the way home. I spotted the Tanuki bobbing over a wall and come over to say hi." Her gaze dropped to Ryoga's hand. "What'cha got there?"

"Nothing that concerns you!" He extended his hand as far away from Ranma-Chan as he could. In a blur of red, the paper disappeared from his hand. Ranma-Chan was standing a few feet behind him reading the piece of paper.

"This another one of your stupid maps?"

"Give that back!" He made wild grabs at the map, which the redhead easily avoided.

"Hmmm…" Ranma-Chan studied the map while dodging Ryoga's blows. The lost boy started herding her toward a nearby canal. "Hey!" She stepped to the side and tripped Ryoga, dropping him into the water. "This is a map to a Japanese Nannichuan!"

A little black pig swore at the redhead from a brown backpack floating in the canal.

"Hey, Ranma, What's up?" Videl saw him studying a piece of paper closely. "I know you're not studying anything for school."

"Hmm…" Ranma-Chan's brow was furrowed in concentration. "…if this is right, the spring is close…"

Videl shook her head. "Hopeless." At that moment a sound from the canal caught her attention. "Bacon!"

Ranma-Chan's head snapped up. "Oh crap."

Just as the raven-haired girl was about to leap into the canal after the little pig, the redhead shot across the canal and scooped up Ryoga and his pack. She left the tanuki and steel plate where they were.

Videl was angry. "Hey! Come on! Share, you pig!"

Sometime later, back at the Satan estate, Ryoga and Ranma were soaking in one of the furos soaking. The lost boy had just finished recounting the legend behind the Japanese spring of drowned man.

Ranma shook his head. "You're kidding me. That old man just changed those pain in the butt foxes into pain in the butt humans. What kind of solution is that?"

"Well that's what the legend says. You don't think I would make up a story like that." Ryoga stood and reached for a towel. "I'm off."

Ranma grabbed his arm. "What's the hurry? You'll just get lost anyways. Why don't you stay here for the night? We can get an early start in the morning."

"Who's 'we'?" Ryoga narrowed his eyes at the pigtailed martial artist.

The pigtailed boy flicked his hair over his shoulder. "Oh, just the man that kept you from being devoured."

"By your girlfriend!" Ryoga was starting to get mad again.

"Oh, come on, bacon-breath. You don't think she'd really eat you, do ya?"

"YES!"

"Then why don't you stay for the night and I'll make sure you get out of town with all your hams."

The lost boy threw up his hands in surrender. "Okay! I'll stay!"

"Great!" Ranma patted him on the back and then grabbed a towel for himself. "We'll get an early start and hopefully this time tomorrow we'll be whole men again."

Ranma and Ryoga dressed and the butler showed Ryoga to one of the spare bedrooms. The lost boy promptly fell asleep. Ranma tiptoed back to the den with the map tucked away in his clothes. He checked to make sure the coast was cleared and then sat in the lotus position on the floor and began to study the map a little closer.

"So THERE you are!"

Videl's voice sent chill up Ranma's back. _Oh crap. I've really done it this time._ "Yo, Videl. How goes it?"

The raven-haired girl stormed up to where he was sitting. "Don't 'yo Videl' me! Where is the pig? And don't you dare tell me you ate him all by yourself!"

Ranma gulped. "No, I, uh…let him go."

"You WHAT?"

"I let him go. He was too small to eat really." Ranma was trying his best to come up with excuses.

"I don't care! He would have at least made a good breakfast!"

"So what? Are you gong to kick me out of the house for not killing a little animal?"

Videl stopped and her jaw seemed to unhinge. Some how Ranma had managed to say the right thing at the right time. The girl thought for a second and then plopped down in the floor beside him. "I guess you're right. It's not worth fighting about." She crossed her arms. She was still a little mad though. "But don't let it happen again."

Ranma put his hand over his heart. "I promise I won't take a real pig away from you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." He shoved his nose into the map like most husbands bury their faces in their newspapers to avoid talking to the spousal unit. "Isn't this interesting…"

Videl rolled her eyes, moved over beside him, and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Okay, so what's with the map?"

"It's supposed to be the map to the Japanese Nannichuan. I've just got to figure out where it is."

"Let me see that." She reached up and tugged a corner of the map over to where she could read it. She thought a second, doing some quick figures in her head. "Hey! This spring is in Nerima!"

Ranma started and looked at her. "What? How do you know?"

"It's where Nabiki is from. I did some checking on her hometown. This spring is dead center of the district."

The pigtailed boy smacked his head. "Just great!" He looked around for a sec. "Where is Nabiki anyway? I haven't seen her all day."

Videl tried to look nonchalant. "Oh, she was just going to see about returning some bad Chinese we got the other day."

Ranma, not being the brightest soul around, let it go at that. "Okay, so I guess Ryoga and me are heading to Nerima in the morning."

"A-HEM. Don't you mean you, Ryoga, and me?" She asked the question in a tone a voice that indicated that he didn't have much choice in the matter. Her face also showed there was not going to be any argument about it.

"Heh, heh. Uh, yeah! That's what I meant! You, me, and Ryoga!"

"Watch yourself mister, or I'll have to kick your butt." She poked at him playfully.

Ranma smirked at her. "I'd like to see that."

"I'll catch up to you one of these days." She looked up at the clock. "Well, if we're going to get an early start, we had better get to bed." She pointed over her shoulder. "What's that?"

The pigtailed martial artist turned to look over her shoulder, leaving his face turned to hers. "Where?"

She quickly grabbed his head and planted a kiss on his lips. "Good night!" She stood and walked to her room. Ranma just sat there wide-eyed for a few seconds, and then fell over on his face.

The next morning, they all loaded into Videl's jet copter. Ranma tied Ryoga and his stuff to the tail. "Hey! Why do I have to ride like this?" The lost boy complained.

Ranma shook his head. "I told you a hundred times! There's not enough room in the cockpit, and she's my girlfriend, so I get up front." He turned and hopped into the cockpit with Videl.

She turned to look at him. "We could take a bigger copter you know."

"He doesn't know that." Ranma smirked and pointed forward. "Let's go!"

They took off and made their way to the Nerima district of Tokyo. Videl flew around until she found a nice vacant lot to land in. They walked through the district following the map to the Japanese Nannichuan. Ranma had to keep pointing Ryoga in the correct direction. Videl just shook her head and wondered how one man could have such a poor sense of direction. A little bit after noon they came to Furinkan High School.

Ranma lifted an eyebrow. "I wonder if I would have ended up going here if I hadn't met you Vichan."

His girlfriend looked around. "Probably, but what would you have done for a girlfriend?"

The pigtailed boy chuckled. "I'm sure I would have had plenty of fiancés to keep me company, knowing pops." They both shared a laugh.

"Hey!" Ryoga shouted. "Are we going to find that spring or aren't we?"

Ranma nodded. "Okay! Okay!" He looked down at the map. "It looks like we need to go to the far side of the school for the marker."

They walked around and there under a tree was a statue of a fox. Ranma bent down and read the kanji on the front. "It says here that the spring is only one hundred steps in that direction." He indicated with a extended finger.

"Thanks, sucker!" Ryoga threw a bandanna at Ranma and took off in the direction.

Ranma deflected the cloth with his bracer and charged after the lost boy. "HEY! GET BACK HERE!"

The pair of martial artists charged forward toward their cure. Ranma weaved in and out of the trees while Ryoga just barreled through them. Whenever they'd close on one another, they'd throw punches and kicks at one another. Videl just cradled her head in her hand and shook it. She'd never figure out those two.

Just as they were counting down the last steps, both of their danger senses went off. They jumped at the last minute before tons of gymnasium equipment started falling from trees. They both looked down and realized where the trail led.

"It's under the girl's locker room", Ryoga hissed.

Ranma thought, _I don't care if it's under the imperial palace. Ain't nothing going to keep from getting to that spring!_

They both watch as a group of girls came up to inspect their handiwork. After finding their trap empty they stormed on. Ranma and Ryoga quietly made their way back to Videl.

Once they reached the tree where she was waiting, Ryoga turned to Ranma. "So what do we do now?"

The pigtailed martial artist smirked. "We go in the front of course."

A couple minutes later, Ranma-Chan was dressed in girl's gym clothes. She adjusted her shirt a bit. "So what do ya think?"

Ryoga was stupefied. "You're REALLY going to do it, aren't you?"

"You bet. Nothing's coming between me and that spring!"

Videl shook her head. "You know, Ranma, I could go in there with less trouble."

"Naw! You're famous. Someone would recognize you in a heartbeat. I've got to do it." In her mind, she couldn't allow her girlfriend to show her up. She made some last minute adjustments. "Okay, I'm off!"

She strode confidently toward the locker rooms. All of the sudden she felt a huge amount of ki. The power was enormous. She couldn't believe the amount she felt. She was frozen in place like a block of ice. She stood there, rooted in place, until finally a taller boy with jet-black spiky hair wearing blue pants and a white shirt walked around the corner. _It's HIM! He's generating all that Ki._ Although Ranma-Chan would never admit to being scared, she was close to soiling herself.

The boy walked up and smiled. "Where are you going?"

_He knows! _Ranma began to panic. _Hold on! He can't know. No one's ever seen you around here. Just breathe and calm the HELL DOWN!_ She took two deep breaths and in her best cute voice, she said, "I'm just a lost little girl." She flashed him her big puppy dog eyes. "Can you point me towards the girl's locker room?"

"Sure." The boy turned and pointed in the direction where Ranma-Chan was headed.

"Thanks." _Sucker. _Ranma-Chan smirked and continued on her way. She calmly made her way to the door and opened it up. "Don't mind me girls, I just…"

SPLASH!

There he stood, Saotome Ranma, man amongst men in all his glory, in the middle of the girl's locker room in woman's gym clothes, fully male.

"PERVERT!" Began to be chanted over and over again.

Ranma's eyes got wide. He decided that the Saotome secret attack was called for. He turned and bolted faster than a greased cheetah.

In short order, Ranma lost the mob of murderous girls and changed back into his usual attire. He started beating on the nearest tree to vent his frustrations. The tree snapped in half after one punch. "Oops. I've gotten stronger than I thought. I'm going to have to watch that." He chuckled to himself. For the second time that day he felt the enormous ki source. "Time to go!" He turned and ran again.

A short time later, Videl was once again shaking her head at her boyfriend's antics. "Are you sure you don't want me to go in for you?"

Ranma shook his head. "Naw, it's just time for plan B. Could you wait over there?" He pointed toward the other side of the building.

She gave him a confused look. "Okay. Whatever you say." She walked off and out of sight.

The pigtailed martial artist immediately turned and doused Ryoga. The pig started squealing in protest. "Now you listen to me, Bacon. You're going in there to steal some panties. Keep those girls busy so I can find the spring." He hauled back and threw the porcine projectile through an open window. He just sat back and decided to wait until the screams began.

After about a minute passed, Ranma got impatient. He jumped up and peeked into the room. Inside Ryouga-pig was being held in the breasts of a girl with short, blue-black hair. She had nothing on top, but her bra. The pig looked like it had passed out from blood loss. "DAMMIT!"

The pigtailed boy ran into the locker room and grabbed the pig out of the girl's hands. He held the little porker at eye level. "Dammit pig, can't you do anything right?"

The girl with the pageboy haircut started yelling at him. Ranma finally grasped the danger of his current situation as all the girls started crying pervert and started producing various blunt objects. He fled the room, dropping the pig in meantime.

Videl watched as Ranma fled from the premises and shook her head. _He'll learn one of these days._ She continued to watch as a throng of girls with blunt instruments followed him out. _Maybe sooner than I thought._

After a minute or so another girl came out carrying a small black pig. Videl smirked. "Look like this trip won't be a total waste." She strode up to the girl and pointed to the pig. "You going to eat that?"

The girl looked at her with a confused glance. "No! What do you think this is?"

"Bacon, duh!" _What kind of idiot is this girl?_

At that moment, Ranma was just finishing his first lap around the gym and saw Videl and the other girl arguing over the pig. _Ah man! Guess I have to save Ryoga's bacon…literally._ He turned and made a b-line for the girls. He passed right between them, deftly stealing the pig from the loud chick.

"Hey that's the pervert!" The girl with the pageboy cut shouted.

"That's my boyfriend, not a pervert!" Videl looked indignant.

The other put her hands on her hips and scowled. "Then what was he doing trying to break into our locker room?"

The forecast was looking a bit stormy when a boy with spiky hair wearing the Furinkan uniform interrupted the two girls. "What happened?"

"It was that pervert again!"

"He's not a pervert!" Videl reminded the increasing annoying little girl.

"I'll handle it." With that the boy turned and ran in the direction Ranma retreated.

Ranma shook his head in frustration. _This should NOT being taking this long! What the hell is wrong with this place?_ He rolled his eyes as he made his way back to where he hid Ryoga. He had to stow the pig somewhere so he wouldn't get lost and where Videl couldn't find him. _I know it's dishonorable to tell an enemy's weakness, but I've got to tell her about Ryoga's curse. Otherwise she'll skin me alive for stealing her breakfast._

He looked down at the two containers of liquid he was carrying. In one hand was hot tea for Ryoga to transform, and in the other was some cool water for him. All this madness was making him thirsty.

Just as he was about to take a long drink of water, someone slammed into his back. He fell forward and the water transformed him back into her cursed form. She was a little pissed, but she turned and saw that boy again. The power seemed to flood into her senses. She didn't know how she had missed it.

The boy carefully helped her up. "I'm sorry, but I was looking for a pervert and wasn't paying attention where I was going."

"What do you mean pervert?" Ranma-Chan got defensive.

The boy held up his hands trying to calm the volatile redhead. "Some guy tried to break in and steal the girls' underwear!"

"I di-…uh, I'm sure it was just a mistake." Ranma-Chan tried to recover.

"Well, I've got to get to the bottom of this. I'm sure I'll find the truth one way or another." He turned and ran off.

"Who does that idiot think he is?"

Ranma-Chan finally made her way back to Ryoga. She let Ryoga transform back with the tea she had. She decided to just stay female because she figured she would just be hit by water again. Ryoga, however, was still in a stupor. Ranma-Chan shook her head and slapped the lost boy over the head. "Come on, snap out of it!"

The lost boy didn't even notice. "They, uh…she was so nice…"

"Come on! What's more important? The spring or some chick in the locker room?" The pigtailed martial artist was getting ticked.

Ryoga's face screwed in anger. "She's not a chick! That's Akane!"

"I don't care who she is! She's an obstacle we need to get past to get to the spring! She was a macho tomboy anyway!"

"You take that back!"

One of their usual scuffles broke out. The redhead and lost boy poured their all into it. Ryoga was fighting because Ranma had insulted the girl, and Ranma, because this whole trip was turning into a circus. After a while, Ranma-Chan tripped and Ryoga prepared to deliver the deathblow.

Just as things were getting interesting, the boy from early shot through and shoulder rammed Ryoga against the school wall. He turned and offered his hand to help the girl up. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Ranma-Chan slapped the hand away and walked off. _Videl's got to be around here by now._

Videl was waiting for her around the corner of the gym with a kettle. "Why don't you just let me handle it?"

Ranma threw up his hands in surrender. "Fine!"

His girlfriend smiled and patted him on the head. "Don't worry, I'll still think you're a man after this." She pecked him on the cheek and got a harrumph as a reply. She took it in stride and made her way to the locker room. She strode in and took a look around. "Now, if I were a spring of drowned boy, where would I be?"

"SWEETO!"

Videl felt a new growth on her breasts. She knew she hadn't suddenly developed breast cancer. She looked down and saw a shriveled up midget glomping her bosom.

"Hello, cutie!" The micro pervert smiled up at her.

Videl let out a blood-curdling scream that quickly brought Ranma in to the rescue. He saw the old man fondling his girlfriend. He reached out and yanked the perv off her chest. "What are you doing, you freak?"

At that moment, the same girl from before, Akane, strode in. "I knew it! You're working with Happosai!" She yelled.

"Who?" The teenaged couple replied.

Akane stepped forward and smirked at Videl. "See, I told you he's a pervert!"

"He's never seen him before!" Videl shouted back.

A huge catfight erupted in the locker room. Ranma decided to git while the gitting is good.

Outside, behind the gym, Ranma held the little pervert at eye level. "What the hell were you doing to my girlfriend?"

"Don't bother me, sonny." With a twirl of his pipe, he tossed the boy against the gym wall. Believing him finished, he started to stride off.

"Where you going?" Ranma rushed forward and nailed the shriveled old man, sending him flying into a wall. Cracks spiraled out from the impact.

The old man shook himself to clear his vision. "Not bad, boy. What's your name, so I can get the tombstone right."

"Saotome Ranma of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts." Ranma answered proudly as he dropped into a stance.

The old man smirked. "So, YOU'RE Genma's boy. I've been waiting to meet you."

The pigtailed boy took a step back. "Who are you?"

"I'm Happosai. Grandmaster and creator of the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts! I am you're master!"

"Master this!" Ranma charged forward with his fist extended, intending to introduce the old man to the ground.

The shriveled pervert agilely jumped over the punch, onto Ranma's head, and over to his backside. He turned and struck the boy with his pipe again, knocking him to the ground. Ranma stood up and wiped the dust from his eyes. He strode forward and the scene began to repeat itself.

The fight went on, much to Ranma's embarrassment. At one point the old man finally had him over a barrel. The boy was flat on his back with the little pervert standing on his chest. "And here I had such hope in you, boy. I thought Genma would have done something right for once."

"Right THIS!" Videl kicked Happosai like a teed up football, sending him into the locker room wall.

Ranma quickly stood up and charged in for the kill. Just as he was about to administer the final goodnight, Ryoga blindsided him with a punch to the back. "PREPARE TO DIE RANMA!"

The old man was just recovering when he was impacting by a pigtailed projectile. The two smashed through the wall and into the locker room. Ryoga charged in to join the fun.

Ranma was stuck trying to defend himself from two directions at once. _Well, at least the girls are gone._ He quickly got his second wind and renewed his efforts to pound the midget pervert and the lost boy.

The fight carried on until Ryoga went for an overhead hammer blow. Ranma swiftly dodged. The lost boy's strike went through the floor. The room shook briefly. "What the?" was all anyone got out before a huge plume of water came from the floor and propelled them into the air.

A few minutes later found a soaked Ranma-Chan and Ryoga-pig sitting in a tree. She picked up the pig and glared at it. "If that was a spring of drowned man, then why ain't I a guy!" She dropkicked the pig into LEO. "Next time I'll let Videl eat you!"

The redhead dropped out of the tree and started wringing her shirt out. Videl walked up looking like she just came from wrestling a big cat. Ranma told her everything that had happened since he left her.

She heaved a weary sigh and shook her head. "Let's go home. I don't like this place."

"Me neither." Ranma-Chan agreed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

"Chinese Takeout"

Nabiki came out of one of the extravagant bathrooms at the Satan mansion and plopped down on one of the plush couches in the den of the large dwelling. She still had several minutes before she had to finish getting ready for school, so she contemplated her current dilemmas. _Three days of gathering information and I'm still no closer to finding a way to rid ourselves of those Amazons. I've studied them as much as I can, but I can't find an honorable way out of this mess. It can't be underhanded because they would return immediately to kill me. That's a possibility I don't want to think about, even though Ranma would protect me. He's sweet and stupid like that._

She mulled over her information to date. _Shampoo's main weakness is Ranma, easily manipulated, but how to turn it against her? Mousse's weakness is his obsession with Shampoo, easy to use as a distraction or misinformation. Cologne… _A shudder went through the middle Tendo daughter. _Every time I've encountered her she's always had the upper hand. I'm forced to believe that she IS over three hundred years old. She always seems to be two steps ahead of anyone else. _Nabiki thought for a second. _Wait a minute, if she's so smart, why hasn't she bagged Ranma yet? What about Ranma makes it so hard for her to trap him? I trapped him easily enough with the marriage agreement, but she has the Amazon law. Granted they don't apply in Japan, but Ranma pretty much obeys any honorable law. Of course I would have had him a long time ago if it wasn't for Videl. The boy is obviously in love with her, but they have no ties past that. Will love be strong enough to overcome his honor? _She shook her head. _Great, now I'm starting to sound like a bad action thriller. Oh well, might as well finish getting ready for class. I can already hear Ranma training in the gym. I still need to talk to Videl about her ideas for getting rid of the red menace. I need to use this temporary truce while I have it._

She stood up, stretched, and went back to her room to finish getting ready for school.

Up in another room, Videl was rising to her alarm clock buzz. She turned it off and slowly got out of bed. She looked at her timepiece with a sad look on her face. This was the second time this week that Ranma had failed to wake her up. She saw that she didn't have any time to spar, so she dressed for school.

After she had dressed, she walked slowly to the gym where she knew Ranma was pushing himself too far again. He had forgotten the outside world again. This was a side of Ranma she had seen before, but since they had returned from Nerima, it was like he was a man possessed. He worked out constantly, pushing himself past exhaustion again and again. She put two fingers to her mouth and whistled loudly.

Ranma, drenched in sweat and still pushing himself, stopped in mid-air and dropped to the floor. He turned and saw Videl standing in the doorway with a hurt look on her face. _Oh man! I did it again!_ He jumped up and ran to her. "I'm SOOO sorry, Vichan! I promise I won't let it happen again!"

Videl looked him in the eye. "You said that last time. What's wrong, Ranma? What happened in Nerima that made you so obsessed?"

He flinched away and turned away from her. "Nothin'. I just think I should be training more. I've really let myself slide. I've got to stay in shape."

The raven-haired girl shook his head at his obvious denial. "You've trained harder than anyone I've known from the day I've met you. There's more and you know it! Ranma, talk to me. I can't help if you don't talk to me!"

His shoulders slumped a bit as he could almost hear the tears in Videl's voice. "I c-can't tell you."

Videl's tears began to well up in her eyes. "Don't you trust me?"

Ranma's expression paled. He turned around quickly. "It ain't like that! I trust you! It's just." He turned back around. "It's embarrassing."

She walked up behind him and hugged him. "Please tell me what happened. I don't ask for much. I just want to know what's wrong with you."

He sagged a bit. "When we went there, there was a guy." He stopped and took a deep breath.

Videl looked at him with concern in her eyes. "Did he do something to your girl side? I'll kill him!" She seethed suddenly.

"NO!" Ranma turned, broke the embrace, and put his hands up in a warding gesture. "He just…well…He was really strong. Vichan, he was hiding more power than I've ever dreamed existed. I…I didn't know what to do!"

Videl's face lit up in understanding. "You got scared, didn't you?"

Ranma's face went hard and he scowled at his girlfriend. "I never get scared! I'm not scared of nothin'!"

"Not scared of anything, and yes, you are! Cats for one!" Videl latched back onto his waist. "Ranma, it's okay to be scared if he had that much power. It frightening to think about if he could c…uh…upset you so much."

The pigtailed martial artist finally gave in and put his arms around her. "I'm am sorry Videl. I never wanted to hurt you, but I'm supposed to be the best! Pops trained me to be the best of my generation. Now I find out that there's a guy out there with more power in his pinky than in my entire body. What am I supposed to do? I've got to train until I can take him!"

Videl held him close. "Ranma, there will always be someone out there better than you. You taught me that!"

He looked up at her and loosened the embrace enough to look her in the eye. "What do you mean?"

She smiled up at him. "Ranma, before you came to town I didn't think anyone could hold a candle to me. I thought I was the best fighter in the world next to my daddy. You came in and ruined all that. You made me realize that there are people out there that are more skilled, faster, and even stronger."

Ranma smiled nervously. "I'm sorry."

She gave him a small peck on the lips. "I wouldn't trade it for the world though."

They held each other tightly as another figure looked on. Nabiki frowned at the display. _How am I supposed to break them up with Kodak moments like this?_ She stepped forward and cleared her throat, causing the couple to break apart. "You two better hit the showers if we're going to get to school on time."

Videl gave her a confused look. "I haven't worked out. Why do I need a shower?" Nabiki pointed down at her shirt. Videl looked down and saw that she was drenched in Ranma's sweat. "Okay, maybe I do need a shower. We need to hurry, Ranma!" She grabbed his hand and towed him out of the gym.

"Separate bathrooms!" Nabiki shouted after them.

"Man, she's starting to sound like dad." Videl commented aside as she dropped Ranma by his usual bathroom.

After everyone was showered, dressed, and fed; the trio headed to school. Ranma took to the fences when the girls told him they wanted to talk. Nabiki turned to Videl. "So have you had any ideas about our Amazon problem?"

The raven-haired girl shook her head. "None. What have we got on the intelligence side?"

Nabiki relayed all her observations of the Amazon trio. "…So I think I could handle it without Cologne in the equation, but I can't seem to get rid of the old gal. She's a cunning old woman."

"Three hundred years, blah, blah, blah." Videl nodded. "I know the whole spiel, and I know we'd be hard pressed to take her in combat. Ranchan was the only one to do it, and he could only do it under the Neko-Ken."

"I wouldn't advise a violent approach. She'd just be back with more Amazons and probably kill both of us. You know how they like to deal with 'obstacles'."

The other girl nodded her head in agreement. "What if Shampoo has an 'accident'?"

Nabiki shook her head. "Cologne would see through it, and I don't think you have the stomach for that. Besides that, Ranma wouldn't forgive either of us."

"Good point." Videl thought for a second. "Maybe we could get Mousse trained up to defeat Shampoo?"

"And/or disable Shampoo." Nabiki thought along the same lines.

"The question is how." The younger girl put her hand on her chin and pondered some more.

"Quack!"

They both turned to see a duck with coke bottle glasses standing in front of them. "What is that?" Nabiki wondered aloud.

Ranma turned when he heard the sound and saw the waterfowl. "Looks like a blind duck." Said animal turned and flew at his face. He waited for the last possible instant and batted the duck away. The bird went flying and struck the side of one of the nearest buildings, passing out upon impact.

"You know, it's not as good as pig, but duck does make a pretty good meal." Videl commented idly.

The pigtailed martial artist nodded in agreement. "It's not bad. It's been a while since I've had Peking duck. I bet the old ghoul would know how to fix it." The duck quickly came to, only to be caught by Ranma. "Don't worry, we won't eat you. Looks like somebody's pet if they bothered to put those stupid glasses on it." The waterfowl started quacking angrily and snapping at Ranma's nose.

"Looks like the myopic quacker doesn't like you, Ranma." Nabiki commented with an amused look on her face.

The duck managed to shake its way free of Ranma's grip and flew toward his head. The martial artist ducked (no pun intended) to avoid the bird. The animal turned and in mid-air and lifted its wings. Suddenly, several knives went flying. Ranma nimbly avoided the darts and leapt toward the animal.

"You could hurt someone like that!" He slapped the duck down into the pavement, knocking it out cold again. "Man, even the animals are armed and dangerous."

"Life is definitely interesting with you around, Ranchan." Videl smiled at him. He returned a sheepish smile.

Nabiki was about to puke. "Come on, let's get to school."

Videl looked down at her watch. "We're going to be late! We need to hurry!" She leapt to the nearest lamppost and then to a close roof.

"Hey! What am I supposed to do?" Nabiki yelled after her.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Come on." He scooped her up in his arms and leapt after his girlfriend. Videl briefly turned and scowled, Nabiki just gave her a haughty smirk and placed her arms around Ranma's neck.

They all took off on their delayed trip to school, leaving an unconscious duck on the ground. After a few minutes the duck came around and started swearing in its own special way. Nearby pedestrians could have sworn that the duck had quacked, 'die Ranma', but of course a duck can't talk.

During the lunch hour, Ranma took stock of his current situation and reflected on how much it differed from his life before meeting Videl. He had lived the last ten years of his life with friends that were few and far between. One of those old friends was currently trying to kill him (but he was only kidding, right?), and the other one had turned out to be a girl and his fiancé. Luckily he had dealt with that problem with help from Videl.

He looked around and saw all the people sitting around him. All of them were friends of a sort. Videl was leaning on his right shoulder as she chewed on his lunch. She had come to mean a lot to him. He loved her even if he still had trouble admitting it. Not to be outdone, Nabiki leaned on his left shoulder. He'd heard that she was a scheming underhanded dealer, but she had been nothing but nice to him. She even helped get rid of his would-be killers (yeah, right). Said killer was trying to peal him for information about his 'sister'. Ranma rolled his eyes at Shayapuna. Then there was Ireeza, the blonde that was making lustful glances at him from the ground in front of him.

They were all seated around him under the largest shade tree on the Orange Star High School lawn. They were all being 'friends' to him. Ranma felt a little overwhelmed at being so popular, but he could get used to it. There was only one 'friend' that was missing from the picture. Of course, he was happy about that fact.

"Nihao!" Came a high-pitched feminine voice from behind him.

_Well, I guess the gang's all here._ Ranma thought ruefully as he felt Videl and Nabiki mold themselves to his sides to prevent the lavender haired Amazon from putting her arms around him.

Shampoo bounced over and in front of him, blocking Ireeza's view of the pigtailed martial artist. She presented a basket and pulled the lid off, revealing several small buns inside. "Shampoo bring too too delicious buns for Airen." She smiled sweetly as Nabiki glared at her, and Videl started to growl.

"Hey! Pork buns!" Ranma exclaimed.

"Wait a minute!" Videl realized what Ranma had just said. "Did you say PORK buns?"

Shampoo pulled the basket away. "Buns for Airen, not Airen stealer!"

"Gimme those buns, you Chinese hussy!" Videl made a grab for them. Shampoo bounced back away.

The group broke up quickly as they knew a fight was coming. Ranma shook his head and desperately tried to stop the imminent confrontation. "Wait. Stop. Don't." He said all the words in an even tone. Okay, so maybe he had learned that he couldn't do anything to stop them from fighting.

The pair dance around in a strangely beautiful waltz of martial arts. Videl made wild grabs for the food she desired while Shampoo fought with everything she had to keep the shorter haired girl at bay. Ranma just put his face in his hands and shook his head.

The battle went to the rooftops as the combatants leapt to put distance between each other. Videl leapt forward, and with two quick bounds, she was ahead. She turned just as Shampoo caught up with her. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" With a flutter of blindingly fast speed, Videl successfully used the Amazon technique against Shampoo.

The Amazon was completely unprepared for the daughter of Satan's attack. She lost her precious cargo before she even had a chance to use it.

Videl swiftly downed one of the two buns in the basket. She stopped, turned purple, and spat out the remaining portion. "What was THAT? That wasn't pork!"

The lavender haired Amazon's face twisted into a villainous smirk. She brought her hand up and snapped her fingers. "Plan might work. Stupid girl jump off building!"

Without conscious thought, Videl's body turned and jumped off the building. She managed to gain control of her body after leaping and managed a good landing. A furious look crossed her face as she bounded back up to face her opponent. "What the hell did you do to me?"

"Hmm." Shampoo cocked her head to the side. "Must tell not catch self next time…" She smiled and then remembered what her great-grandmother had done to the deliveryman that had tested the mushroom buns earlier that morning. She snapped her fingers. "Fall asleep." Immediately Videl went limp and collapsed on the roof of the building they were standing on. Shampoo smiled evilly and picked up the smaller girl. "Now you no catch self. No worry, Shampoo take good care of Airen." She stepped to the edge of the four-story building and dropped Videl over the edge.

She smugly watched as the sleeping girl plummeted to her death. But just as she was passing the top of the second story, a red blur swooped across and snagged Videl out of midair. The blur went forward until it came to the wall of another building, shot straight up, and spun back toward Shampoo.

Ranma landed on the roof beside the Amazon with a still sleeping Videl draped over his shoulder. His glare would have vaporized a glacier with the smoldering anger it emitted. He looked at Videl and then back at Shampoo. "What did you put in those buns?" He demanded as his gaze became murderous.

The Amazon took a tentative step backwards. "Shampoo no put nothing in!"

"Like hell, you didn't! You poisoned Videl!" He gave the girl on his shoulder a slight shake to prove his point. "This is the last draw Shampoo." He started to glow from the wrath that poured out of him.

"She no dead! She just sleep!" Shampoo snapped her fingers. "Wake up!"

Videl's head snapped up and she realized she was staring at Ranma's hindquarters. _Not that I mind the view, but how did I get in this position?_ She lifted her head and looked back and saw Shampoo trembling and felt Ranma's anger radiating off of his body. "You can let me down now." She whispered into his ear.

The pigtailed martial artist let his girlfriend down, but his eyes never left Shampoo. "This is going too far Shampoo. The Xi Fang Go technique was bad, but now you're drugging Videl!"

The lavender haired teenager put her hands on her hips and scowled. "If obstacle girl no remember, she no have to die!"

Videl stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the statement. Her mind turned the statement over in her mind a few times until an answer came to her. While Ranma was still berating Shampoo, she grabbed the last bun. She turned just as it looked like Ranma was about to lay hands on Shampoo, and not for healing. She stepped in quickly and jammed the last bun down Shampoo's throat.

"Now for some payback." Videl snapped her fingers. "Forget you ever met Ranma or I."

Shampoo stood ramrod straight. "Who you?" She questioned the strange couple in front of her.

Videl snapped her fingers again. "Go home."

The Amazon turned and leapt toward the Nekohanton.

Ranma blinked his eyes. "How did you do that?"

The raven-haired girl got a big smile on her face. "Those were mind control mushrooms baked into those buns. Just snap your fingers and the person who ate them is your slave. I just thought if she forgot about us, she wouldn't have to marry you, or kill me. I think it will work out well." _We'll be rid of her, and then that would only leave Nabiki…_

"Well enough until morning."

They both turned to see Cologne standing on her staff. Ranma took up a defensive stance. "What d'you mean?"

The elder Amazon smiled at the pigtailed boy. "The mushrooms only work for a short time. By morning Shampoo will be back." She turned her gaze toward Videl. "Nice try though."

Videl swore under her breath.

"Hey! Can't you stop Shampoo! She almost killed Videl!" Ranma yelled.

Cologne gave him a 'you must be kidding' look. "That's what an Amazon is supposed to do when she gives the kiss of death. You didn't think it was a temporary thing, did you? She has to fulfill her obligations or she can never return to the tribe."

"What would happen if she did?" Videl asked out of curiosity.

"She would die."

Both the teenagers gulped. Videl looked a little shaken. "I don't want that to happen to her."

Colonge's eyes narrowed on the younger girl. "Then why won't you let Shampoo have Son-In-Law? You have no real claim on him. Shampoo does, and it's a matter of honor and life."

"Hey! If I go with Shampoo, then Nabiki's family honor is gone." Ranma piped up.

The elder glared at him. "Isn't Shampoo's life more important than another's honor?"

"Doesn't many more people matter than an individual?" Videl pointedly asked. "With Shampoo it's just her. With Nabiki it's her whole family."

The old ghoul turned on her. "Then let Ranma go! Can't you see you're destroying families' honor and lives?"

Videl backed down from Cologne's glare. She racked her brain for a good excuse. All of the sudden a loaded bet wasn't good enough.

Ranma grabbed Videl's arm to support her and glared back at Cologne. "You're forgetting something, old ghoul."

The elder's eyes narrowed at the impudent boy. "Go on."

"I love her. I don't love Nabiki, and I don't love Shampoo. I ain't gonna marry anyone but someone I love."

Videl leaned into him, so proud and full of love for the taller boy. _It's 'I'm not going to marry…but I'm not going to correct him since he managed to say he loved me without stuttering._

Cologne met his gaze. "Then your family honor is gone as well. Would you doom two families, and a woman's life for your love?"

Ranma, being the stubborn unthinking man that he is, answered, "Yes." He heard a sniffle and looked down at Videl. "Wha?" He started.

She looked up at him with a sad look on her face. "Ranma, let's go home. We need to talk."

He nodded his head. Cologne nodded hers a well and left with a few bounds toward the Nekohanton. Ranma and Videl nodded and started to leap home. They hit something on their way and look down to see a bucket and two wet ducks. They shrugged and kept going.

Mousse looked over at the other duck, who until a few moments ago was an ant. _Damn you, Saotome! You ruined another of my plans!_

Later, when the couple was back at the Satan Estate, Videl led Ranma back to her room. She dropped on her bed heavily and took a deep breath.

Ranma looked down at her with a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong Videl?"

She was on the verge of tears when she responded. "I can't do it anymore, Ranma."

"Can't do what?"

"I can't kill someone because I love you." The hint of a tear came to her eye.

Ranma quickly dried it. "Don't cry! Come on! We'll find a way around the Amazon law! Please don't cry!"

She cleared another tear from her eye. "But what about Nabiki's family honor?"

Ranma snorted. "Pops engaged me to several people. I think we can find a way to veto THAT."

Videl looked up and gave him a sad stare. "What about your family honor? I'm sorry Ranma, but I can't take that away from you. I love you too much to make you an outcast. I have no real claim on you, you'd have to choose someone you're officially engaged to, or you loose honor."

Ranma landed heavily beside her. "Then I guess there's only one thing to do."

Videl nodded sadly and gazed at her hands. She would miss Ranma with all her heart. She knew that something would die in her when he left. She felt his weight come off the bed and her eyes clouded with tears.

All the sudden, a dark blob was in her blurred vision. Ranma grasped her hands and pulled them forward. He freed a hand to clear her eyes. She saw the pigtailed boy kneeling on the floor in front of her.

Ranma reached up and pushed some hair away from her face and tried to dry her tears. "Satan Videl, will you marry me?"


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

"Rising Dragon's Ascension"

Satan City, One week earlier: The night was cold and dark as the winter months set in. The air was silent and not a peep was heard from insects or birds. Suddenly, the sky was pierced by a streak of light and the quiet was cut by a loud scream.

"INCOMING!" The shriveled projectile fell out of the stratosphere and impacted on the hard concrete. The ground exploded and a large crater was dug in the Earth.

Quiet settled again for a few minutes until a groan broke it. A small hand reached over the lip of the crater. The first was quickly followed by a second. Both hands were shriveled and scorched. A head, an old, bald one with a thin mustache, followed the hands.

The old man that could not have been more than two foot tall dragged himself out of the indention in the Earth. He coughed a couple of times and then rolled over on his back. He took a ragged intake of breath. "I'll…get…you…Gohan…" He swore to the heavens. The words were quiet, but they carried a conviction that would have staggered any passersby.

At that same moment at the Neko Hanten, Cologne stiffened up from the pot of ramen she was preparing.

"What is it, Great-Grandmother?" A concerned Shampoo asked.

Cologne's features hardened. "I sense a presence that I haven't felt since…" She shook her head. "It can't be, he should still be buried where his fool students left him." She mumbled under her breath.

"Who?"

"Don't concern yourself child, just finish cleaning the restaurant. We'll investigate in the morning."

Satan City, Present day: Videl sat up at the knock to her door. She knew who it was, and she just had a feeling inside that she would be hearing that knock for some time to come. She smiled and opened her mouth to speak. "Coming, Ranma!" She hopped out of bed and jumped into her training clothes. She swung open the door, grabbed his face, and hauled him in for a passionate kiss. "Good morning, Rannchan!"

Ranma was still dazed from the kiss. She had been saying good morning to him in this manner for the past week, and he still wasn't used to it. "Uh, good morning." He staggered a bit when she released her hold of him.

A sweet and loving smile spread across her face. He was so cute when he was put off balance. Her feelings for him had grown stronger and stronger, and, when he had asked her to marry him, she knew that no one would have a higher place in her heart. Granted their troubles were far from over, but at least now she was on even footing with Nabiki and Shampoo. She had an honor bond with him, as well as one forged of love. "Come on, sleepy-head, let's get training!" She swept past him and strode down the hallway to the family's personal gym.

Ranma shook his head and followed. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was.

"I've got you, you daughter stealer!" A hand shot out of the darkness and reached for Ranma's shoulder.

The pigtailed martial artist sidestepped without looking who it was and grabbed the outstretched hand. With a quick twist of a wrist, a large hairy body was slammed into the opposite wall upside-down. "Good morning, Mr. Satan. Have a nice day." He smirked an arrogant grin and followed Videl toward the gymnasium.

Mr. Satan grumbled as he slid down the wall. He was supposed to be the greatest martial artist in the world, and he couldn't even deal with one punk kid. "I'll get you, Saotome Ranma. I'll make sure you never bother my daughter again."

Later that morning, Nabiki went through her morning routine and stopped by the gym where Videl and Ranma were finishing up their morning practice. She knew that her chances with Ranma were slipping away, but she couldn't find it in herself to feel any anger toward either one of them. She had known that she was an intruder into their lives. They had been practically joined at the hip long before she had come to Satan City. She shook her head in resignation. _This was a poor fight to pick. Even if I had been able to get rid of the Chinese floozy, I'd still have to deal with Videl. Ranma doesn't even look at me as more than an annoyance. How could I make him love me with Videl around? He's so stubborn that any attempts to get him away from her using our families' agreement would only serve to distance him further. Things only got worse after he proposed to Videl. He's bound to her stronger than he is to me. I did ask for veto power over my engagement, I guess the most honorable thing to do would be to use that. I've made plenty of yen here, so my stay hasn't been a complete waste; and the stay in this luxury home has been a nice vacation from Kuno and the other Nerima idiots. I guess it's time to try and save some face before I lose any more respect for myself. After all, I can't stay here fawning over someone who just barely knows I exist._

The pair finished their workout as Ranma knocked Videl to the floor one last time. They both smiled and laughed together in a manner that you knew that they were very close companions. The gentle way that Ranma used his muscular frame to lift Videl up to her feet only made Nabiki more certain of her decision.

Ranma and Videl seemed to talk about nothing as they walked along with each other. They stopped as if noticing Nabiki for the first time. "Good morning, Nabiki." Ranma's voice was one of surprise. He didn't expect to see her there this early. "You ready for school already?"

Nabiki nodded her head as if coming to a decision. "No. Actually, I'm going to be going back to Nerima this afternoon."

"You'll be missed." Videl spoke glibly.

The middle Tendou daughter gave the girl a glare. "Try not to sound so smug when you say that, and maybe someone will believe you."

Ranma scratched the back of his head. He didn't know what to make of this. Was this just another attempt to break him and Videl up? Or was she really leaving? _I guess the only thing I can do is ask._ "So, um, does this mean that you're giving up on the engagement?"

A resigned sigh escaped Nabiki's lips. "Yes. I'm dissolving the engagement between our families. Our fathers gave me exclusive rights to abolish the agreement if I so choose. You're free, Ranma…of me at least. But I wouldn't celebrate yet; you still have the Amazons to deal with. I think that they're going to be a little more tenacious than me in this battle."

Videl absently hummed the tune to "Love is a Battlefield".

Ranma shook his head. "Well, at least there's one last thing I have to worry about." He held his hand out. "Friends?"

Nabiki hesitantly took his hand and nodded her head. "Sure. Friends." _Kami knows we won't be anything more._

"Let's get ready for School, Rannchan." Videl took him by the arm and led him away. She wave back over her shoulder. "So long, Nabiki. Farewell. Auf Wiedersehen. Don't let the door hit you in the…"

"That's enough!" Nabiki shouted.

"Bye-eee!" Videl's voice chimed from around the corner with a teasing-sarcastic tone.

"I'm glad I could make someone happy today." Nabiki replied in her own sarcastic voice.

About an hour later, Ranma and Videl were leaping their way to school. They shared a smile, as they knew that they had something to be happy about. Nothing could bring down their spirits after such an eventful morning.

"SWEETO!"

Okay, almost nothing…

"What a haul! What a haul!"

Ranma turned at the sound of the voice. "It can't be?"

The raven-haired girl turned and scowled. "Happosai."

The pigtailed martial artist turned to her. "You know him?"

"He tried to fondle me in Nerima. That psycho with the blue-black hair accused me of working with him." Anger seemed to seep from Videl's aura.

"Well, I guess this qualifies as crime fighting, right?" Ranma smirked.

"You got it!" She matched his cocky grin.

"What's that he's carrying anyways? It's bigger than he is."

"Whatever it is, it can't be good."

Happosai was bouncing along his merry way. It had been so long since he had been able liberate so many lovelies. That damned boy in Nerima had kept him from it, and now that he had arrived at this unsuspecting town, he had all the underwear he could carry.

"Hold it right there, pervert." A crack of thunder was heard over the horizon.

He stopped at the sound of the angry female voice. He turned to see the girl that had been fighting with one of Soun's daughters at Furinkan High School. "Hello, cutie!" He dropped his bag and launched himself at Videl's breasts.

Before he could land, an elbow slammed into his head. A crack of thunder and the darkening of the day accentuated the impact he made on the hard roof.

"Look old man. Why don't you leave town before I make you?" Ranma crossed his arms and glared at the old man.

Happosai stood and crossed his arms. "Now how will you do that, hmmm?"

"Like this! Kiai!" Ranma launched into a deadly punch and kick combo.

The old man managed to elude the blows easily. "You couldn't hit me with my own martial art!" He caught one of Ranma's punches with his pipe, and the boy spun end over end toward the edge of the roof.

The pigtailed martial artist managed to regain his footing before sliding off the edge of the roof. "Well, then I guess I'll have to try something else. Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" He rained a flurry of punches down on the old man.

While the men battled, Videl's curiosity got the best of her. She HAD to know what the old man was hauling around in that huge bag. She was shocked and dismayed at the contents. "He's hauling around a sack of underwear?"

The old man turned at the voice and his eyes widened. "My pretties!"

"An opening!" Ranma slammed the grandmaster to the rooftop.

Happosai jumped up and snatched the bag from Videl's hands. "They're mine!"

About that time, the sky opened up and rain came pouring from the sky. Happosai watched in stunned amazement as Ranma transformed into a short redhead. "So you've been to Jusenkyo with your stupid father? I guess I should have expected that Genma wouldn't go anywhere alone."

Ranma-Chan pulled some loose hairs out of her face and scowled. "Well, it's bad news for you because I just got a LOT faster."

The old master smirked. "You'll have to improve greater than just becoming smaller, boy!"

Enraged at being called a boy in the same tone that her father had used to belittle her, the redhead growled and charged in. "I'll get you, you old pervert!" She once again started trying to pummel the old man.

"But one good thing came from Genma's foolishness. SWEETO!"

The redhead stopped when she felt a new growth on her chest. She looked down and saw Happosai latched onto and nuzzling her breasts. "YOU PERVERT!"

Time seemed to slow down as her fist sank downward. Happosai jumped off to the side. Ranma-Chan's fist caught the bag that the old man was carrying. The loud rip pierced the stormy morning. As the bag was opening a gust of wind roared through and scattered all the lacy underthings through the air.

"NOOOOO!" Happosai wailed as his eyes grew big and tears came to his eyes.

"Serves you right, you perverted old letch." Ranma-Chan smirked smugly and crossed her arms.

"You…You…You'll pay for what you've done! I'll teach you some respect!" Happosai's face twisted in anger.

"And how will you do that?"

"Like this!" The old man charged forward. Ranma punched to intercept him. Happosai used his free hand to pivot off the extended fist and tumble behind Ranma's back. In mid turn, his pipe struck out and hit Ranma-Chan in between her shoulder blades.

"What the?" Was all Ranma-Chan could get out before she slumped to the rooftop. Her breathing became labored.

"Ranma!" Videl shouted as she rushed to the redhead's side. "What's wrong?"

"My…shirt…" She managed to get out between halting breaths.

Videl quickly stripped her of her weighted shirt, bracers, and shoes. The articles made a clanking sound as they hit the rooftop. Ranma-Chan's breathing became regular again.

Happosai's eyebrow went up. "Who taught you the Kame Sennin training?"

Videl turned on him. Her aura flashed bright red. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" She demanded.

"Moxibustion weakness technique. It's been a long time Happy."

They turned to see Cologne balanced atop her cane on the far side of the roof.

"Cologne. How lovely to see you again." Happosai smirked.

"It's good to see you again. Now let's talk stolen artifacts…"

Happosai glanced at his bare arm. "Will you look at the time? I've got to get going!" He leapt away like his pants were on fire.

Cologne hopped over to Ranma's side. "You've made a powerful enemy tonight, Son-In-Law."

Ranma-Chan slowly stood up. "How dangerous could he be? And what did you mean moxibustion weakness technique?"

Cologne's eyes narrowed. "Hit me as hard as you can. I'm not going to move a muscle."

The redhead just smirked. "Okay. You asked for it." She pulled back and pulled her fist around for an enormous haymaker. The fist struck the Amazon elder and stopped. The old ghoul hadn't moved an inch. "What the?"

"You're as weak as a kitten. That point he hit sapped all of your strength, that's why you couldn't breath with your weighted clothes on." Cologne commented in a matter-of-fact voice.

"But you can cure me, right?" Ranma asked hopefully.

The old woman shook her head. "I would if I could, but a long time ago Happosai stole the scroll with the technique and the cure. He stole those along with several other artifacts from the Amazon village. I could help you…"

"No way!" Ranma-Chan shouted. "You ain't using this as an excuse to get me to marry Shampoo!"

"There are other things on my mind now besides that, Son-In-Law." She narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah, right. Come on, Videl, let's go." The redhead turned and leapt toward the next building, but only got a foot out before plummeting.

"Rannchan!" Videl jumped off the building and caught him before he could splatter on the pavement. "Don't do that! We've got to get your strength back up before you can do any of that!" She sighed and set the redhead back on her feet. "Let's just walk home. We can start training you back up. I think school can wait a bit."

A few days later, a visitor dropped by the Satan estate. The butler recognized the young woman and showed her to the gymnasium where Ranma and Videl were working out, or attempting anyway. The visitor couldn't believe what she was seeing; Ranma was on a weight bench trying to lift a five-pound weight with Videl spotting him with one finger. The unbelievable part was that Ranma was straining with the effort. "What's going on here?"

The pair looked up. "Ucchan!" They both shouted at once. Videl ran to hug her friend, leaving Ranma with the weight, which quickly succumbed to gravity.

"Ooooowwwww!" Ranma shouted as the weight rolled off his foot.

Videl put her hand over her mouth. "Oh no! I'm so sorry!"

Ukyou gave the pigtailed martial artist a questioning glance. "What's wrong, Ranchan? I've seen you take harder hits than a five pound dumbbell."

Ranma managed to pull his foot out from under the offending weight. "Happosai hit me with a pressure point that stole my strength. Now I'm trying to train back up, but I can't seem to gain anything!"

The okonomiyaki chef shook her head. "That's pretty bad, even for Happosai."

"You know him?" A surprised Videl asked.

Ukyou crossed her arms. "Unfortunately he was practically a roommate while I was staying in Nerima. His attempts to fondle me forced me to wear my boy clothes again."

"I noticed your not wearing one of the outfits I bought you." Videl smirked. "So how did it go with your 'hunk'?"

The chef's shoulders fell. "He picked Akane over me. He still wants me to be a friend, but I just had to get away for a while."

"Akane?" Videl asked.

"Yeah, Nabiki's little sister. I don't know why he picked her over me. Maybe it's the hair or maybe he likes girls with tempers. I don't know." Ukyou shrugged her shoulders.

Ranma scratched his head. "Hey, that sounds familiar. She doesn't have a tendency to call any boy she sees a pervert, does she?"

"Actually, she does."

Videl and Ranma's eyes went wide. "So that's who that little witch was." Videl muttered. "I knew I didn't like her for some reason. Being related to Nabiki and all…"

Ranma shook his head. Somehow he knew that if his pops had not stopped in Satan City on the way to Nerima, that he would have wound up engaged to that violent psycho. "Well, if he's dumb enough to go for that woman, then I think you could do much better. Who was this guy anyway?"

Ukyou got a far away look in her eyes. "His name is Gohan. He's really tall and he wears his hair in this cool spiky hairdo that appears to do it naturally."

The pigtailed boy stiffened. "You mean the guy hiding more power in his pinky than in my entire body."

The chestnut-haired girl's eyes lit up in surprise. "How did you know?"

"We made a trip to Nerima looking for the Spring of Drowned Boy, and I ran into a guy who made me…nervous. Even though he wasn't concentrating or anything, I could tell he was hiding a lot of power."

"Wow! Your ki senses must be a lot better than what he trained me and Akane to be."

Ranma rushed to her and grabbed her shoulders. "He trained you? You've gotta show me everything you learned!"

"Okay!" Ukyou pushed him away lightly. He went flying across the room. Her eyes went wide again. "Maybe you should wait until you've got your strength back. Most of his techniques deal with strength." She turned to Videl. "So what do you plan to do about Happosai?"

Videl sighed. "I don't know. Cologne keeps trying to say she'll help Ranma, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let her get Shampoo a foot in the door. I've tried to keep the door firmly closed in her face."

"Well, what if I told you that it wouldn't mean you'd have to do anything for Shampoo to get my help."

They turned to see the old matriarch balanced atop her staff.

"Who's the troll?" Ukyou asked, and, before she could do anything else, she was smacked on the side of the head with Cologne's wooden staff. "Hey! What's the big idea?"

"Have some respect for your elders, child." Cologne was back on the other side of the room.

Ukyou rubbed the bump on her head. "That's the same thing Happosai keeps saying."

"There are exceptions to the rule."

By that time Ranma had managed to regain his feet. "You said you'd help me, and I don't have to do anything for Shampoo?"

"You've got it...unless you're not 'man' enough. Come to think of it, you're weaker than a girl right now. Maybe you should just give up."

The repeated insults served to make steam seem to come off Ranma's head. He took a swing at the matriarch. "I am a MAN, you old GHOUL!"

"Then you'll have to prove it. Follow me, weak boy!" She bounded down the hall toward the exit with Ranma hot on her heels.

Ukyou and Videl looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. They turned and followed after. They followed the path that Ranma and Cologne had taken. The trail led outside to the courtyard behind the Satan mansion. Just as they burst through the door, they saw an enormous twister form in the middle of the backyard.

The winds stopped and a haggard Ranma fell from the sky in the middle of a smoking crater. Cologne peeked over the side. "So what did you think about that, Son-In-Law?"

Ranma slowly got to his feet. He pulled himself out of the pit and found a loose branch on the grounds. "I think that it went like this." He began to draw a spiral on the ground.

Cologne's eyes lit up in delight. "Very observant, Son-In-Law. You'll make a fine Amazon." Ranma scowled at this.

Videl and Ukyou ran up at that point. Videl looked at the destruction in the backyard. "What happened here?"

"A ancient technique of the Chinese Amazons, The Hiryu Shoten Ha!"

"Rising Dragon Hurricane?" Ukyou asked.

"Close enough. The technique uses an opponent's hot ki against your cold ki. The difference in temperatures and air pressure causes the hurricane. Now let's get Son-In-Law into his training gear."

In short order, Ranma was in a suit that almost completely restricted his movement. The rig was meant to keep the student from striking back during training.

Cologne cleared her throat to get Ranma's attention. "Now remember. You have to clear yourself of all emotion and anger. You have to be completely calm, cool, and collected. Now, we're going to need a participant from the peanut gallery to assist in his training."

Videl and Ukyou shook their heads. "Don't look at me!" They both yelled at once.

The Amazon shook her head. "Now where are we going to find someone dumb enough to help Ranma with his training?" She comments idly.

Ranma snorted. "Where's Ryoga when you need him?" He grumbled. Suddenly he had a flash of inspiration. "Hey, Ukyou! Go get Mr. Satan! Tell him I got something to show him."

Ukyou just shrugged and ran to the house.

"You think he'll fall for it? How do you plan on getting him angry?" Videl questioned him.

Ranma strode up beside her and put his arm, stiffly because of the outfit, across her lower back. "Just watch."

A couple minutes later, Ukyou emerged with an annoyed, but not quite mad, . "What's this all about? What do YOU have to show ME?" He asked incredulously.

"This!" Ranma swung Videl around for a passionate kiss.

"GAAAAAAHHHHH!" Now Satan was ticked!

Ranma strolled back and dodged all the furious blows that older man threw. The teenager started his spiral. When he came to the center he threw up his arm like an uppercut and yelled, "Hiryu Shoten Ha!"

A hurricane force wind swept through the yard, picking up loose debris and Mr. Satan. The old man rode the twister a while as the others clung desperately to whatever they could. After a few minutes, the winds died and a bedraggled Mr. Satan dropped to the ground, looking like he had been run over by a truck. His eyes were spiraling as his tongue hung half out.

"I think I'm ready to go find an old pervert." Ranma smirked his trademark cocky grin."

Cologne, Videl, and Ukyou could only stand there in shock as Ranma bounded toward the city.

Happosai was once again hopping across the rooftops with a large load of lacy darlings. He couldn't believe that dealing with Genma's son would be so easy. Good thing he still had that scroll for the moxibustion weakness technique. He'd have to keep it close by in case Gohan ever showed up.

"Yo, old pervert! Let's try that fight again!" Came the annoying boy from the side.

The old master shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I just can't bring myself to fight such a weak opponent. It goes against he principles of martial arts to attack the helpless."

"HELPLESS?" Ranma shouted, but quickly brought himself back under control. "Come on, you old letch. I know you want another piece of me."

"What could fighting such a weak kitten like yourself gain me?" He shook his head. "You poor fool. You actually think you stand a chance." He tsked and continued on his way.

_ I know!_ Ranma dashed forward and grabbed Happosai's bag, but lacked the strength to loosen it from the old man's grasp.

"What is that? A fly on my back?" He whipped the bag around and threw Ranma against a wall, splattering him like an egg.

The pigtailed martial artist slowly got back to his feet. "Come on, you useless, old, perverted, raisin!"

Happosai shook his head and sighed. "A proud martial artist reduced to name calling. It's almost enough to touch my heart…"

Ranma's nerves were slowly running out.

"How about some help, Rannchan?" Half a dozen mini-spatulas flew past Ranma and sliced open Happosai's bag. Ranma quickly ran over and kicked the remains of the bag sending panties and bras flying into the wind.

"My…My…lacy darlings!" Happosai yelled.

"Serves you right, you old letch." Ranma crossed his arms and grinned in satisfaction.

"First I'll deal with that meddling chef, and then I'll finish you, boy!" He charged forward to where Ukyou was standing with a smug look on her face. He stumbled halfway there and rolled end-over-end. He turned to see a smirking Ranma with his leg stuck out in the road.

"Oops. Did I do that? I'm SOOO sorry." His voice indicated that he was in no way, shape, or form regretful for his actions.

"You're just as useless as your father!"

"No one can be that useless…Maybe you…" Ranma still had that infuriating grin on his face.

"As much as I hate weaklings…" Happosai drew himself up to his full height and called upon his massive aura. "You've just got a promotion on my to kill list!"

Ranma raised his hand with a 'come hither' motion. "Just bring it."

The old master yelled in fury and charged in. Ranma ducked left and right, all the while leading the master to a more open area.

"Stop dodging and take your beating like a man! You would be a coward just like your father!" Happosai yelled as he kept trying to hit the dodging Ranma.

The pigtailed martial artist weathered the insults, as he knew that his moment of victory was approaching.

"PREPARE TO DIE SAOTOME!"

_Great. _Ranma thought with a sarcastic tone. _Now Ryoga shows up…What else could go wrong._

"Hey! I want a piece of him too!"

_Shayapuna. _Ranma smirked. _Okay, if they all want to play…_

He had to step up his evasion skills as three opponents assailed him at once. He rolled out and started the spiral. He smiled as they were all playing into his hands. _Only one more thing to do._ "Hiryu Shoten Ha!" He threw up his fist and the winds came, sucking up his three opponents and throwing them around like rag dolls.

"Ranma! The scroll!" Ukyou pointed with one arm, as she held onto a telephone poll with her other.

He followed where the chef was pointing and saw the paper. In a brief glimpse he saw a man with a spot located between his shoulder blades. "That has to have my cure on it!"

"I've got it!" Videl's voice came from the side as she leapt into the hurricane.

"VIDEL!" Ranma yelled as he jumped in afterward.

Ukyou took one look into the strengthening winds. "Ain't no way I'm going in there."

Inside the storm, Videl swam in the stream. Ranma tried desperately to reach her, but lacked the strength to make headway. In the meantime, trouble had managed to catch up to him. An arm wrapped around his waist and Ryoga's fist crashed into his jaw.

"At last! You're going to pay for what you've done!" Ryoga shouted over the winds.

_No wonder the winds aren't dieing, Ryoga's never going to stop being ticked off._ "Settle down, Ryoga! Or we'll never get out of this wind!"

"Stop lying, you pervert!"

"I've got bigger things on my mind right now." Ranma twisted his way out of Ryoga's grasp and swam on into the maelstrom.

Ukyou watched from the side and realized, like Ranma, why the storm hadn't stopped. "That STUPID MORON!" She quickly came to a decision. "Once again, I have to beat him for being stupid!" She let go of the pole and was swept up into the tornado.

Ryoga grinned his toothy grin as he crept slowly upon his bitter rival. Vengeance was almost in his grasp! That was until he looked up to see a livid okonomiyaki chef holding her battle spatula behind her back with both hands.

"BATTER UP!" She whipped the giant kitchen utensil around with all of her strength. That, combined with the forward momentum that the fanged boy had picked up in the winds, sent the lost boy out of the gale and over the horizon.

Ukyou smiled with satisfaction. "That…was therapeutic." Her joy was short lived as the winds died, and she landed unceremoniously on her rear end. "Oof!"

She heard another pair of startled landings to her side. Shayapuna was sitting against a wall with his head spinning, Happosai was plastered against another wall with cracks spider webbing out, and Ranma and Videl… "What do you know? He still managed to catch her."

In the middle of the street sat Videl, in pristine condition, atop a squashed Ranma. When she realized she was crushing him, she stood up as quickly as she could. "Are you all right?" She asked her bruised boyfriend.

"I'll be the happiest man in the world if you tell me you got that scroll." He groaned out.

"I thought you said you'd be the happiest man in the world if I said yes to your proposal?" She gave him a playful grin.

"Did you get the scroll?" He would have yelled if he had the strength.

"Right here, mopey. Now turn over." She pulled the scroll out of her bosom. She read the scroll quickly and then poked the indicated spot on Ranma back.

The pigtailed martial artist felt his strength return and leapt to his feet, completely healed. "Yes!" He leapt toward the nearest wall and punched right through it. "YES!" He leapt over, picked up Shayapuna and punted the blonde toward the schoolyard. "I'm baaaaack!" He yelled happily. He bounced over and peeled Happosai off the wall. "Drop kick!" He dropped the old man and punted him into LEO. "Now where's that stupid pig-boy?" He looked around eagerly.

Ukyou stuck her thumb over her shoulder. "I just put him over the centerfield wall."

Ranma turned to Videl. "Am I the only person in the world that didn't know about baseball?"

"Pretty much." She looped an arm around Ranma's. "Let's go home and make dad mad again."

"Wha?"

Later that night, Ranma sat on the roof of the Satan mansion with a satisfied look on his face. Videl was already asleep in her room, but Ranma couldn't sleep. He was so excited that he had learned a powerful new technique on the first try and that Ukyou maybe held the key to surpassing Gohan. He was almost jumping for joy. "I'll be more powerful than that spiky haired boy!"

"Not bad, son, but if you're going to have to get more training to defeat Gohan."

Ranma spun around to see Happosai standing on the roof behind him. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to help you, my boy." Happosai grinned. "I'm going to show you where you can get the same training that Gohan has."

"There's no way you could teach me that! I've defeated you, and he has at least a hundred times your power!" Ranma scoffed.

"All you have to do is follow me and I'll take you to the man that can show you that kind of power."

"Why are you helping me all the sudden?"

"Let's just say we have a common enemy." Happosai smiled an evil grin.

Ranma shrugged. "Okay, we can leave in the morning. What's this guy's name anyways?"

"Muten Roshi."


End file.
